PHARMACEUTICS & DRUG DISCOVERY: One Drug Target for Several Diseases? - The Translationally Controlled Tumor Protein (TCTP)

摘要

TCTP is a highly conserved protein that is expressed ubiquitary in eukaryotic organisms. Based on the structure of Schizosachharomyces pombe - TCTP was assigned to small family of chaperones. TCTP is implicated in cell cycle progression, malignant transformation and in the response of cells to various stress conditions and apoptosis. Upregulation was shown in different cancer tissues and in addition, an extracellular, histamine releasing function has been discovered for TCTP. The translationally controlled tumor protein was mentioned for the first time in investigations from the 1980's, initially identified in mammalian tumor cells and named Q23 (depending on the run length on a gel). Experiments using actinomycin D as transcription inhibiting agent resulted in no difference in the synthesis rate of this protein. This has left the only explanation that this protein must be regulated on the translational level. Short time after the first description, the same protein was named p21 in publications and even the induction of expression by actinomycin D could be elucidated. Finally, being named Fortilin, Q23, p23 and p21, in 1989 the name was changed to "translationally controlled tumor protein" because of its first detection in cancer cells and the confirmed regulation at the translational level. But, having an extracellular function as a histamine release factor has made "histamine releasing factor (HRF)" a synonym for TCTP [6].