Melanoma-associated antigen 3 (MAGE-A3) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the MAGEA3 gene.^[3][4][5]

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MAGEA3
Available structures PDB Human UniProt search: PDBe RCSB List of PDB id codes 4V0P, 5BRZ
Identifiers
Aliases	MAGEA3, CT1.3, HIP8, HYPD, MAGE3, MAGEA6, MAGE family member A3
External IDs	OMIM: 300174; HomoloGene: 55892; GeneCards: MAGEA3; OMA:MAGEA3 - orthologs
Gene location (Human) Chr. X chromosome (human)[1] Band Xq28 Start 152,698,767 bp[1] End 152,702,347 bp[1]
RNA expression pattern Bgee Human Mouse (ortholog) Top expressed in gonad testicle right testis left testis placenta urinary bladder human musculoskeletal system renal cortex skeletal striated muscle gastrocnemius muscle n/a More reference expression data BioGPS More reference expression data
Gene ontology Molecular function caspase binding protein binding Cellular component endoplasmic reticulum Biological process negative regulation of endoplasmic reticulum stress-induced intrinsic apoptotic signaling pathway negative regulation of cysteine-type endopeptidase activity involved in apoptotic process negative regulation of protein processing Sources:Amigo / QuickGO
Orthologs Species Human Mouse Entrez 4102 n/a Ensembl ENSG00000221867 n/a UniProt P43357 n/a RefSeq (mRNA) NM_005362 n/a RefSeq (protein) NP_005353 n/a Location (UCSC) Chr X: 152.7 – 152.7 Mb n/a PubMed search [2] n/a
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This gene is a member of the melanoma-associated antigen gene family. The members of this family encode proteins with 50 to 80% sequence identity to each other. The promoters and first exons of the MAGEA genes show considerable variability, suggesting that the existence of this gene family enables the same function to be expressed under different transcriptional controls. The MAGEA genes are clustered at chromosomal location Xq28. They have been implicated in some hereditary disorders, such as dyskeratosis congenita.^[5]

The normal function of MAGE-A3 in healthy cells is unknown.^[6] The presence of the antigen on tumor cells has been associated with worse prognosis. In one study, high levels of MAGE-A3 in lung adenocarcinoma were associated with shorter survival.^[7]

MAGE-A3 is a tumor-specific protein, and has been identified on many tumors including melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, hematologic malignancies, among others.^[8] Currently, GlaxoSmithKline is developing a cancer vaccine targeting MAGE-A3. The vaccine is a fusion protein of MAGE-A3 and Haemophilus influenzae protein D, combined with a proprietary immunoadjuvant.^[9]