MGC9753 gene, located within PPP1R1B-STARD3-ERBB2-GRB7 amplicon on human chromosome 17q12, encodes the seven-transmembrane receptor with extracellular six-cystein domain.

MYC, ERBB2, MET, FGFR2, CCNE1, MYCN, WNT2, CD44, MDM2, NCOA3, IQGAP1 and STK6 loci are amplified in human gastric cancer. It has been reported that the gene corresponding to EST H16094 is co-amplified with ERBB2 gene in human gastric cancer. Here, we identified and characterized the gene corresponding to EST H16094 by using bioinformatics. BLAST programs revealed that EST H16094 was derived from the uncharacterized MGC9753 gene. Two ORFs were predicted within human MGC9753 mRNA, and ORF1 (nucleotide position 18-980 of NM_033419.1) was predicted as the coding region of human MGC9753 mRNA based on comparative genomics. Nucleotide sequence of mouse Mgc9753 mRNA was next determined in silico by modification of AK052486 cDNA (deleting C at the nucleotide position 37). Human MGC9753 and mouse Mgc9753 proteins were 320-amino-acid seven-transmembrane receptors with the N-terminal six-cysteine domain and an N-glycosylation site (85.0% total-amino-acid identity). Human MGC9753 protein showed 90.6% total-amino-acid identity with human CAB2 aberrant protein, which lacked the third-transmembrane domain of MGC9753 due to frame shifts within ORF. Human MGC9753 gene, consisting of eight exons, were clustered with PPP1R1B, STARD3, TCAP, PNMT, ERBB2, MGC14832 and GRB7 genes within the 120-kb region. PPP1R1B, STARD3, MGC9753, ERBB2 and GRB7 genes are co-amplified in several cases of gastric cancer. This is the first report on comprehensive characterization of the amplicon around the PPP1R1B-STARD3-TCAP-PNMT-MGC9753-ERBB2-MGC14832-GRB7 locus on human chromosome 17q12.