G Antigen 12G (GAGE12G)

GAGE12G belongs to a multigene family expressed in a large variety of tumors whereas in normal tissues, expression is restricted to germ cells. These genes organized in clustered repeats, have a high degree of predicted sequence identity, but differ by scattered single nucleotide substitution. Their sequences contain either the antigenic peptide YYWPRPRRY or YRPRPRRY which is recognized by cytotoxic T cells.
The first GAGE nomenclature was based on identified mRNA sequences, but the high identity of the GAGE members made impossible to separate products of paralogous genes from polymorph products. Ref.3 presented a new GAGE gene nomenclature based on the identified genes and their products.