Background of the antigen
Hemogen is a 484 amino acid protein encoded by the human gene HEMGN. Hemogen is a nuclear protein that is expressed in hematopoietic precursor cells and can be detected in CD34+ and K-562 leukemia cell line. It is also expressed in bone marrow, testis, thymus and thyroid tumors, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, various leukemia cell lines, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMCs) of patients with leukemia. Hemogen is down-regulated during megakaryocytic differentiation of K-562 cells by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) (at protein level). It can be up-regulated in normal PBMCs by mitogens.