The gene encoding the Insulin-like Growth Factor 2 mRNA binding protein 2/IMP2 is amplified and overexpressed in many human cancers, accompanied by a poorer prognosis. Mice lacking IMP2 exhibit a longer lifespan and a reduced tumor burden at old age. Herein we show in a diverse array of human cancer cells that IMP2 overexpression stimulates and IMP2 elimination diminishes proliferation by 50-80...

p62/IMP2 is an oncofetal protein that is overexpressed in several types of cancer, and is a member of the family of insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA binding proteins. We previously reported that high levels of p62/IMP2 autoantibody are present in sera from cancer patients, compared to healthy individuals. Here, we report the overexpression of p62/IMP2 in tumor tissues of 72 out of 104 cases of...

Variants in the IMP2 (insulin-like growth factor 2 [IGF2] mRNA-binding protein 2) gene are implicated in susceptibility to type 2 diabetes. We describe the ability of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) to regulate the cap-independent translation of IGF2 mRNA through phosphorylation of IMP2, an oncofetal RNA-binding protein. IMP2 is doubly phosphorylated in a rapamycin-inhibitable, amino acid-...

F-BAR proteins link cellular membranes to the actin cytoskeleton in many biological processes. Here we investigated the function of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe Imp2 F-BAR domain in cytokinesis and find that it is critical for Imp2's role in contractile ring constriction and disassembly. To understand mechanistically how the F-BAR domain functions, we determined its structure, elucidated how i...

Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) represents the sixth leading cause of cancer-related deaths and develops in Barret's esophagus affected tissues. The IGF2 mRNA binding protein IMP2/IGF2BP2/p62 was originally identified as an autoantigen in hepatocellular carcinoma. Aim of this study was to investigate the expression and prognostic role of IMP2 in EAC. Human EAC and Barret's esophagus tissue show...

Overexpression of the oncofetal insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA-binding protein 2 (IMP2/IGF2BP2) has been described in different cancer types. Gallbladder carcinoma (GBC) is a rare but highly aggressive cancer entity with late clinical detection and poor prognosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of IMP2 in human GBC. Tissue microarrays (TMAs) of an international multi-cente...

Cytokinesis is the part of the cell cycle in which the cell is cleaved to form two daughter cells. The unicellular yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe is an excellent model organism in which to study cell division, since it shows the general features of eukaryotic cell division and is amenable to genetic analysis. In this manuscript we describe the isolation and characterization of a new protein, ...

IMP2 (insulin-like growth factor-II mRNA binding protein 2) is an oncofetal protein that is aberrantly expressed in several types of cancer. We recently identified the Imp2 gene as a target gene of the architectural transcription factor HMGA2 (high mobility group A2) and its tumor-specific truncated form HMGA2Tr. In this study, we investigated the mechanism via which HMGA2 regulates Imp2 gene e...

Schizosaccharomyces pombe cdc15 homology (PCH) family members participate in many cellular processes by bridging the plasma membrane and cytoskeleton. Their F-BAR domains bind and curve membranes, whereas other domains, typically SH3 domains, are expected to provide cytoskeletal links. We tested this prevailing model of functional division in the founding member of the family, Cdc15, which is e...

Recent genome-wide association (GWA) studies of type 2 diabetes (T2D) have implicated IGF2 mRNA-binding protein 2 (IMP2/IGF2BP2) as one of the several factors in the etiology of late onset diabetes. IMP2 belongs to a family of oncofetal mRNA-binding proteins implicated in RNA localization, stability, and translation that are essential for normal embryonic growth and development. This review pro...