Cancer Susceptibility Candidate 5 (CASC5)

The deduced 1,833-amino acid protein has a calculated molecular mass of 206 kD. AF15q14 contains a C-terminal bipartite nuclear localization signal. Northern blot analysis of HeLa cells detected a transcript of about 8.5 kb. RNA dot blot analysis of adult tissues found AF15q14 expression restricted to thymus, testis, and bone marrow. Expression was ubiquitous in fetal tissues.

D40 expression was observed more frequently in poorly differentiated tumors than in well or moderately differentiated ones, and D40 expression was higher in primary lung tumors from patients who smoked than in those from nonsmokers.Expression was highest in testis, lower in placenta, and very low or undetectable in all other tissues tested.