G Antigen 12H (GAGE12H)

GAGE12H gene is contained within a 9.5-kb GAGE repeat. The GAGE12H gene contains 5 exons spanning about 6.3 kb and has a LINE insertion.GAGE are frequently expressed in many different types of cancer, whereas their expression in normal tissues is limited to the germ cells of the immune-privileged organs, testis and ovary.The GAGE1 to -6 cDNAs differ mainly by single nucleotide substitutions that are scattered throughout the sequence. However, the GAGE1 cDNA contains a 143-bp insertion, located in the coding sequence near the termination codon, that is absent from the other cDNAs. Northern blot analysis detected an approximately 650-bp GAGE1 transcript in a number of melanoma cell lines derived from different patients but no GAGE1 expression in the normal tissues tested.