Melanoma Antigen Family C1 (MAGEC1)

MAGEC1 is a member of the melanoma antigen gene (MAGE) family. The proteins of this family are tumor-specific antigens that can be recognized by autologous cytolytic T lymphocytes. This protein contains a large number of unique short repetitive sequences in front of the MAGE-homologous sequence, and therefore is about 800 aa longer than the other MAGE proteins.The fragment was used to isolate a full-length cDNA clone from a melanoma cell cDNA library. The MAGEC1 cDNA predicts a protein of 1,142 amino acids. MAGEC1 is 800 amino acids longer than other MAGE proteins due to the insertion of a large number of short repetitive sequences. RT-PCR analysis showed expression of MAGEC1 in tumors of a wide variety of histologic types, but expression was not seen in normal tissues, with the exception of testis.