通过克隆分离鉴定得到大鼠硝基还原酶结构域蛋白1(rNOR1),发现rNOR1 cDNA含有1 418个碱基,编码含379个氨基酸残基的rNOR1蛋白.rNOR1与人类NOR1(hNOR1)和小鼠NOR1(mNOR1)的同源性分别为89%和93%,这三种同源蛋白都含有OSCP1家族的保守结构域.rNOR1基因在大鼠睾丸中选择性高表达,而且与之同源的人类hNOR1也选择性高表达于睾丸中.通过免疫组化检测人类不同睾丸癌中的hNOR1蛋白表达,发现hNOR1蛋白在非癌变睾丸组织和胚胎性癌组织中高表达,而在精原细胞癌和分化型非精原细胞癌(畸胎瘤,卵黄囊瘤)中低表达.这些数据表明,hNOR1可能是一种睾丸选择性表达基因,睾丸癌hNOR1表达的改变或许可以帮助我们阐明hNOR1蛋白在生殖细胞系肿瘤发生中的功能.
Rat oxidored nitro domain containing protein 1 (rNOR1) was identified and characterized. Isolated rNOR1 cDNA consisted of 1 418 base pairs that encoded a 379-amino acid protein, and the amino acid sequence was 89% and 93% identical to that of human NOR1 (hNOR1) and mouse NOR1 (mNOR1), respectively. The rat NOR1 protein contained a putative conserved domain belong to OSCP1 superfamily. The message for rNOR1 is highly detected in rat testis. Furthermore, human NOR1 homologue is enriched in testis. By immunostaining human NOR1 protein was detected in human testicular tumors of different subtypes on tissue microarray. NOR1 was strongly immunostained in non-cancerous testicular tissues and embryonal carcinomas, while seminomatous tumour cells and differentiated nonseminomatous derivatives (teratoma, yolk sac tumor) stained less intensely. These data suggested that rNOR1 might serve as a testis-selective gene, and that altered NOR1 expression in testicular cancer may help us to elucidate the functions of NOR1 protein in germ line cells carcinogenesis.