| Product description |
Von Hippel–Lindau syndrome (VHL) is a dominantly inherited hereditary cancer syndrome predisposing to a variety of malignant and benign tumors of the eye, brain, spinal cord, kidney, pancreas, and adrenal glands. A germline mutation of this gene is the basis of familial inheritance of VHL syndrome. Individuals with VHL syndrome inherit one mutation in the VHL protein that causes the protein's normal function to be lost or altered. Over time, sporadic mutation in the second copy of the VHL protein can lead to carcinomas, in particular hemangioblastomas affecting the liver and kidneys, renal (and vaginal) clear cell adenocarcinomas. The protein encoded by this gene is a component of the protein complex that includes elongin B, elongin C, and cullin-2, and possesses ubiquitin ligase E3 activity. This complex is involved in the ubiquitination and degradation of a hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), which is a transcription factor that plays a central role in the regulation of gene expression by oxygen. RNA polymerase II subunit POLR2G/RPB7 is also reported to be a target of this protein. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms have been observed. |