Overview:

XIAP is a member of a family of proteins which inhibit apoptosis and act as mammalian cell-death suppressors. XIAP inhibits at least 2 members of the caspase family of cell-death proteases, caspase-3 and caspase-7 (1). In addition, XIAP inhibits apoptosis induced by menadione, a potent inducer of free radicals, and ICE. Furthermore, XIAP can mediate protection of cells from apoptosis by utilizing both a JNK1 activation pathway that involves ILPIP and a caspase inhibition pathway that is independent of ILPIP (2). Disruption of the XIAP gene in human colon cancer cells can enhance sensitivity of these cells to exogenously added TRAIL suggesting that XIAP is a nonredundant modulator of TRAIL-mediated apoptosis.

Gene Aliases:

API3, ILP1, MIHA, XLP2, BIRC4

Genbank Number:

NM_001167

References:

1. Deveraux Q L, et al: X-linked X-linked IAP is a direct inhibitor of cell-death proteases. Nature 388: 300-304, 1997.

2. Tang G, et al: Inhibition of JNK activation through NF- kappa-B target genes. Nature 414: 313-317, 2001.