Leucine Zipper Protein 4 (LUZP4)

By subtractive hybridization to isolate testis-specific transcripts, followed by serologic expression screening with antibodies from a seminoma patient, Tureci et al. (2002) isolated LUZP4, which they designated HOM-TES-85. The deduced 314-amino acid protein contains a central heptad repeat region followed by a leucine zipper. Northern blot analysis detected a 1.85-kb transcript in normal testis but not in any other normal adult tissues tested. Expression was also detected in several cancers of varied tissue origin. Fluorescence-tagged and endogenous LUZP4 colocalized with SC35 (SFRS2) in nuclear speckles. In a breast cancer cell line, LUZP4 was also detected at the nuclear envelope.

Hartz (2006) mapped the LUZP4 gene to chromosome Xq23 based on an alignment of the LUZP4 sequence with the genomic sequence (build 36.1).