B-Melanoma Antigen 4 (BAGE4)

BAGE4 belongs to the BAGE family. Not expressed in normal tissues except in testis. Expressed in melanoma, bladder and lung carcinomas.

Five new BAGE genes mapping to the juxtacentromeric regions of human chromosomes 13 and 21 and nine BAGE gene fragments mapping to the juxtacentromeric regions of chromosomes 9, 13, 18, and 21. Genes and gene fragments share extensive regions of 90-99% nucleotide identity. Similar to BAGE1, the new BAGE genes are expressed in melanomas, bladder and lung carcinomas and in a few tumours of other histological types. All the normal tissues were negative, with the exception of testis. Human juxtacentromeric regions harbour genes, which are transcribed and translated, in addition to gene fragments that are generally not expressed.