Species Human Entrez 7080 | Human Mouse Ensembl ENSG00000136352 | |
 | ||
Aliases NKX2-1, Nkx2-1, AV026640, Nkx2.1, T/EBP, Titf1, Ttf-1, BCH, BHC, NK-2, NKX2A, TEBP, TTF1, NMTC1, NK2 homeobox 1 External IDs MGI: 108067 HomoloGene: 2488 GeneCards: NKX2-1 | ||
NK2 homeobox 1 (NKX2-1), also known as thyroid transcription factor 1 (TTF-1), is a protein which in humans is encoded by the NKX2-1 gene.
Contents
Function
Thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1) is a protein that regulates transcription of genes specific for the thyroid, lung, and diencephalon. It is also known as thyroid specific enhancer binding protein. It is used in anatomic pathology as a marker to determine if a tumor arises from the lung or thyroid. NKX2.1 can be induced by activin A via SMAD2 signaling in a human embryonic stem cell differentiation model.
Clinical significance
TTF-1 positive cells are found in the lung as type II pneumocytes and club cells. In the thyroid, follicular and parafollicular cells are also positive for TTF-1.
For lung cancers, adenocarcinomas are usually positive, while squamous cell carcinomas and large cell carcinomas are rarely positive. Small cell carcinomas (of any primary site) are usually positive. TTF1 is more than merely a clinical marker of lung adenocarcinoma. It plays an active role in sustaining lung cancer cells in view of the experimental observation that it is mutated in lung cancer.
However others have found that TTF-1 staining is often positive in pulmonary adenocarcinomas, large cell carcinomas, small-cell lung carcinomas, neuroendocrine tumors other than small-cell lung carcinomas and extrapulmonary small-cell carcinomas.
It is also positive in thyroid cancers and is used for monitoring for metastasis and recurrence.
Interactions
NK2 homeobox 1 has been shown to interact with Calreticulin and PAX8.