Melanoma AntiGEn D2 (MAGED2) a new partner of the DNA damage response?

MAGED2 belongs to the Melanoma AntiGEn (MAGE) family of proteins. It is ubiquitously
expressed and its overexpression in many cancers could make it a potential biomarker of tumor
development and metastasis formation. Actually, the only known function of this protein is its
involvement in the p53 pathways. Indeed, MAGED2 could be a negative regulator of p53 and it
increases apoptosis induced by TRAIL in a p53 dependent manner. Moreover, a phosphoproteomic experiment has shown that this protein is likely phosphorylated by ATM, ATR or DNA-PK after exposition to ionizing irradiation. These three kinases are implicated in the DNA damage response (DDR).
Our lab showed by yeast two hybrids an interaction between MAGED2 and ATM. Thus, the aims
of the project are to confirm and to find the function of this interaction in a DDR context.
Current avenues of investigations include determining the impact of MAGED2 depletion and
overexpression in the p53, NF-kappaB and cell cycle regulation following double strand break
induced by etoposide treatment. Though this study we plan to confirm a new partner of ATM in the DDR pathway, which could be targeted to limit cancer progression and improve the chemotherapy relying on DNA damaging compounds.