KN Motif And Ankyrin Repeat Domains Protein 1 (KANK1)

KANK expression was suppressed in most renal tumors and in kidney tumor cell lines due to methylation at CpG sites in the gene. Loss of heterozygosity analysis indicated that there was also hemizygous deletion of the KANK gene. In 9 of 10 tumors, the active allele was deleted, and the methylation-inactivated allele was retained. Ectopic expression of KANK in expression-negative HEK293 cells suppressed cell growth and induced morphologic changes that appeared to be due to abnormal distribution of beta-actin. The deduced protein was found to share 34.5% identity over 139 amino acids with the long isoform of ankyrin-3 . Northern blot analysis revealed expression in all tissues examined except peripheral blood leukocytes. Highest expression was found in heart, prostate, and ovary.