Metallothionein and cancer

Metallothioneins (MT) are small (molecular weight in range 500 – 1400 Da) intracellular proteins rich in cysteine content. In 1957 MT was discovered in horse liver as cadmium binding and detoxification protein [1]. With progressing research it has been discovered, that metallothioneins are found in all kingdoms – bacteria, animals, fungi and even plants and that they are involved in numerous cell processes according their isoform, oxidation state and metals content [2]. In humans four main isoforms of MTs have been discovered so far – MT-1, and MT-2, which are ubiquitous, MT-3 and MT-4, which are specific for neuronal tissue, but their expression also in skin was found. Human MT genes are localized on chromosome 16q13 and are encoded by a multigene cluster of closely linked genes. Genes for MT consist of 11 MT-1 genes and one gene for every other MT isoform (the MT-2A gene, MT-3 gene and MT-4 gene) [3]. A gene called MT-like 5 (MTL-5) that encodes a testis-specific MT-like protein called tesmin was described in the 11q13 [4]. A number of other MT or MT-like genes and pseudogenes with significant homology to functional MT genes exist in human genome, but their functionality is unknown.

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