Melanoma Antigen Family C3 (MAGEC3)

Genes of the MAGE family direct the expression of tumor antigens that are recognized on human melanomas by autologous cytolytic T lymphocytes. By database searching with the sequence of MAGEC2 as query, Lucas et al. (2000) cloned 3 additional members of the MAGE gene family: MAGEB5, MAGEB6, and MAGEC3. The deduced MAGEC3 protein contains 346 amino acids and shares 56% sequence homology with MAGEC1  and MAGEC2. RT-PCR analysis of human normal tissues and tumor samples demonstrated expression of MAGEC3 in testis and in a significant fraction of seminomas, bladder transitional cell carcinomas, and sarcomas. It was also expressed in a melanoma and a nonsmall cell lung carcinoma.By genomic sequence analysis, Lucas et al. (2000) mapped the MAGEC3 gene to chromosome Xq27.1-q27.3, approximately 6.3 kb upstream of MAGEC1.