Functional analysis of the S100B protein and its variant isoform - vS100B

Abstract

S100B is one of the most important members of the S100 family of proteins. These proteins are involved in numerous biological activities. Clinical studies of S100B have found their over expression in many types of cancer and leukaemia. Of particular interest is the role of elevated S100B in melanoma, where it is used as a marker to monitor the progression of malignant melanoma. Increased expression of S100B has also been demonstrated in T-cell leukaemia and astrocytic tumours. Unpublished study has shown a new variant of S100B (vS100B) that is likely produced by differential RNA splicing. S100B protein and its variant (vS100B) share amino acid homology in the N-terminal half, but are divergent from each other over the C- terminal half of the predicted protein. The objective of this study is to better understand the biological role of these proteins.