AZGP1

Zinc-alpha-2-glycoprotein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the AZGP1 gene. AZGP1, also referred to as zinc-alpha-2-glycoprotein (ZAG), is a glycoprotein with a molecular weight of 38-40 kDa. In 1961, AZGP1 was initially isolated from normal human plasma and named as ZAG due to its distinctive electrophoretic mobility within the alpha-2 region and its ability to bind to zinc. Subsequent analysis further identified its specific location on a particular chromosome on chromosome 7q22.1 by fluorescence in situ hybridization. AZGP1 is widely expressed in various tissues and body fluids, including the breast, stomach, liver, prostate, plasma, urine, and saliva.

AZGP1
Available structures PDB Ortholog search: PDBe RCSB List of PDB id codes 1T7V, 1T7W, 1T7X, 1T7Y, 1T7Z, 1T80, 1ZAG, 3ES6
Identifiers
Aliases	AZGP1, ZA2G, ZAG, alpha-2-glycoprotein 1, zinc-binding
External IDs	OMIM: 194460; MGI: 103163; HomoloGene: 915; GeneCards: AZGP1; OMA:AZGP1 - orthologs
Gene location (Human) Chr. Chromosome 7 (human) Band 7q22.1 Start 99,966,720 bp End 99,976,042 bp
Gene location (Mouse) Chr. Chromosome 5 (mouse) Band 5 G2|5 76.92 cM Start 137,979,782 bp End 137,988,495 bp
RNA expression pattern Bgee Human Mouse (ortholog) Top expressed in parotid gland right lobe of liver olfactory zone of nasal mucosa trachea body of pancreas lactiferous duct skin of arm skin of leg skin of thigh skin of abdomen Top expressed in left lobe of liver gallbladder lacrimal gland superior surface of tongue right kidney parotid gland proximal tubule olfactory epithelium epithelium of stomach human kidney More reference expression data BioGPS More reference expression data
Gene ontology Molecular function protein transmembrane transporter activity ribonuclease activity protein binding Cellular component plasma membrane extracellular exosome nucleus extracellular space extracellular matrix extracellular region collagen-containing extracellular matrix external side of plasma membrane Biological process detection of chemical stimulus involved in sensory perception of bitter taste retina homeostasis cell adhesion transmembrane transport negative regulation of cell population proliferation protein transmembrane transport RNA phosphodiester bond hydrolysis immune response Sources:Amigo / QuickGO
Orthologs Species Human Mouse Entrez 563 12007 Ensembl ENSG00000160862 ENSMUSG00000037053 UniProt P25311 Q64726 RefSeq (mRNA) NM_001185 NM_013478 RefSeq (protein) NP_001176 NP_038506 Location (UCSC) Chr 7: 99.97 – 99.98 Mb Chr 5: 137.98 – 137.99 Mb PubMed search
Wikidata
View/Edit Human View/Edit Mouse

This gene expresses a soluble protein that stimulates lipolysis, induces a reduction in body fat in mice, is associated with the cachexia related to cancer, and is known to be expressed in secretory cells of lung epithelium. In 2009, it was found that smoking increases expression of this gene, which is why smoking cessation leads to weight gain. Decreased circulating AZGP1 levels are associated with diabetes 2.

AZGP1 has been identified as a biomarker in cancer patients, with its role varying depending on the specific type of cancer. Low expression of AZGP1 is correlated with unfavorable outcomes in gastric cancer, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, liver cancer, bladder cancer, and prostate cancer. For example, AZGP1 is a potential biomarker for predicting surgical failure and negatively regulates angiogenesis in prostate cancer. Elevated levels of AZGP1 have been significantly associated with poor overall survival and disease-free survival in colon cancer.

Further reading

• Freije JP, Fueyo A, Uría J, López-Otín C (September 1991). "Human Zn-alpha 2-glycoprotein cDNA cloning and expression analysis in benign and malignant breast tissues". FEBS Letters. 290 (1–2): 247–249. Bibcode:1991FEBSL.290..247F. doi:10.1016/0014-5793(91)81271-9. PMID 1915885. S2CID 2058665.

• Tada T, Ohkubo I, Niwa M, Sasaki M, Tateyama H, Eimoto T (September 1991). "Immunohistochemical localization of Zn-alpha 2-glycoprotein in normal human tissues". The Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry. 39 (9): 1221–1226. doi:10.1177/39.9.1918940. PMID 1918940. S2CID 687025.

• Araki T, Gejyo F, Takagaki K, Haupt H, Schwick HG, Bürgi W, et al. (February 1988). "Complete amino acid sequence of human plasma Zn-alpha 2-glycoprotein and its homology to histocompatibility antigens". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 85 (3): 679–683. doi:10.1073/pnas.85.3.679. PMC 279618. PMID 3422450.

• Shibata S, Miura K (1982). "Nephritogenic glycoprotein. IX. Plasma Zn-alpha2-glycoprotein as a second source of nephritogenic glycoprotein in urine". Nephron. 31 (2): 170–176. doi:10.1159/000182638. PMID 6896906.

• Ueyama H, Deng HX, Ohkubo I (December 1993). "Molecular cloning and chromosomal assignment of the gene for human Zn-alpha 2-glycoprotein". Biochemistry. 32 (48): 12968–12976. doi:10.1021/bi00211a004. PMID 8241150.

• Freije JP, Fueyo A, Uría JA, Velasco G, Sánchez LM, López-Boado YS, López-Otín C (December 1993). "Human Zn-alpha 2-glycoprotein: complete genomic sequence, identification of a related pseudogene and relationship to class I major histocompatibility complex genes". Genomics. 18 (3): 575–587. doi:10.1016/S0888-7543(05)80359-3. PMID 8307568.

• Bonaldo MF, Lennon G, Soares MB (September 1996). "Normalization and subtraction: two approaches to facilitate gene discovery". Genome Research. 6 (9): 791–806. doi:10.1101/gr.6.9.791. PMID 8889548.

• Sánchez LM, López-Otín C, Bjorkman PJ (April 1997). "Biochemical characterization and crystalization of human Zn-alpha2-glycoprotein, a soluble class I major histocompatibility complex homolog". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 94 (9): 4626–4630. doi:10.1073/pnas.94.9.4626. PMC 20774. PMID 9114041.

• Brysk MM, Lei G, Rajaraman S, Selvanayagam P, Rassekh CH, Brysk H, et al. (1997). "Gene expression of zinc-alpha 2-glycoprotein in normal human epidermal and buccal epithelia". In Vivo. 11 (3): 271–274. PMID 9239523.

• Lei G, Arany I, Selvanayagam P, Rajaraman S, Ram S, Brysk H, et al. (November 1997). "Detection and cloning of epidermal zinc-alpha 2-glycoprotein cDNA and expression in normal human skin and in tumors". Journal of Cellular Biochemistry. 67 (2): 216–222. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-4644(19971101)67:2<216::AID-JCB6>3.0.CO;2-#. PMID 9328826. S2CID 196585165.

• Ogikubo O, Maeda T, Yamane T, Ohtsuka T, Ohkubo I, Takahashi S, et al. (November 1998). "Regulation of Zn-alpha2-glycoprotein-mediated cell adhesion by kininogens and their derivatives". Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. 252 (1): 257–262. doi:10.1006/bbrc.1998.9614. PMID 9813179.

• Sánchez LM, Chirino AJ, Bjorkman PJ (March 1999). "Crystal structure of human ZAG, a fat-depleting factor related to MHC molecules". Science. 283 (5409): 1914–1919. Bibcode:1999Sci...283.1914S. doi:10.1126/science.283.5409.1914. PMID 10206894.

• Lei G, Brysk H, Arany I, Tyring SK, Srinivasan G, Brysk MM (October 1999). "Characterization of zinc-alpha(2)-glycoprotein as a cell adhesion molecule that inhibits the proliferation of an oral tumor cell line". Journal of Cellular Biochemistry. 75 (1): 160–169. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-4644(19991001)75:1<160::AID-JCB16>3.0.CO;2-B. PMID 10462714. S2CID 11549967.
• Davidsson P, Nilsson CL (December 1999). "Peptide mapping of proteins in cerebrospinal fluid utilizing a rapid preparative two-dimensional electrophoretic procedure and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry". Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. 1473 (2–3): 391–399. doi:10.1016/s0304-4165(99)00197-x. PMID 10594376.

• Kennedy MW, Heikema AP, Cooper A, Bjorkman PJ, Sanchez LM (September 2001). "Hydrophobic ligand binding by Zn-alpha 2-glycoprotein, a soluble fat-depleting factor related to major histocompatibility complex proteins". The Journal of Biological Chemistry. 276 (37): 35008–35013. doi:10.1074/jbc.C100301200. PMID 11425849.

• Scherer SW, Cheung J, MacDonald JR, Osborne LR, Nakabayashi K, Herbrick JA, et al. (May 2003). "Human chromosome 7: DNA sequence and biology". Science. 300 (5620): 767–772. Bibcode:2003Sci...300..767S. doi:10.1126/science.1083423. PMC 2882961. PMID 12690205.

• Diniz Pereira J, Gomes Fraga V, Morais Santos AL, Carvalho MD, Caramelli P, Braga Gomes K (March 2021). "Alzheimer's disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus: A systematic review of proteomic studies". Journal of Neurochemistry. 156 (6): 753–756. doi:10.1111/jnc.15166. PMID 32909269.

• Wen RM, Qiu Z, Marti GE, Peterson EE, Marques FJ, Bermudez A, et al. (April 2024). "AZGP1 deficiency promotes angiogenesis in prostate cancer". Journal of Translational Medicine. 22 (1): 383. doi:10.1186/s12967-024-05183-x. PMC 11044612. PMID 38659028.

• Brooks JD, Wei W, Pollack JR, West RB, Shin JH, Sunwoo JB, et al. (November 2016). "Loss of Expression of AZGP1 Is Associated With Worse Clinical Outcomes in a Multi-Institutional Radical Prostatectomy Cohort". The Prostate. 76 (15): 1409–1419. doi:10.1002/pros.23225. PMC 5557496. PMID 27325561.

• Fang YY, Huang JM, Wen JY, Li JD, Shen JH, Zeng DT, et al. (2022). "AZGP1 Up-Regulation is a Potential Target for Andrographolide Reversing Radioresistance of Colorectal Cancer". Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine. 15: 999–1017. doi:10.2147/PGPM.S360147. PMC 9758989. PMID 36536885.

External links

• Human AZGP1 genome location and AZGP1 gene details page in the UCSC Genome Browser.