Mucosa Associated Lymphoid Tissue Lymphoma Translocation Gene 1 (MALT1)

MALT1 has been found to be recurrently rearranged in chromosomal translocation with two other genes - baculoviral IAP repeat-containing protein 3 and immunoglobulin heavy chain locus - in mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphomas. The protein encoded by this gene may play a role in NF-kappaB activation. Two alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been described for this gene.The authors stated that a consensus MLT cDNA encodes a 729-amino acid protein, but later revised the number of amino acids to 824. The 3-prime sequence of MLT encodes 2 putative Ig-like C2-type domains. Sequence analysis of amplified cDNA from a lymphoma patient showed that the 3-prime end of MLT was fused to the 5-prime portion of API2, an inhibitor of apoptosis located at 11q22.