HGNC Approved Gene Symbol: NES
Cytogenetic location: 1q23.1 Genomic coordinates (GRCh38): 1:156,668,763-156,677,407 (from NCBI)
Nestin is an intermediate filament protein that was first identified with a monoclonal antibody by Hockfield and McKay (1985). It is expressed predominantly in stem cells of the central nervous system in the neural tube. Upon terminal neural differentiation, nestin is downregulated and replaced by neurofilaments.
Dahlstrand et al. (1992) cloned the human nestin gene from a genomic DNA library, using a probe from the rat gene. The human gene encodes a predicted protein of 1,618 amino acids. The alpha helical domain demonstrates 82% identity to the rat protein, but other regions of the sequence are less well conserved. Northern blot analysis of 21-week-old fetal brain RNA detected a band of approximately 6 kb.
Yang et al. (2001) cloned mouse nestin cDNA, which encodes a deduced polypeptide that shares 62% sequence identity with the human protein.
The finding that nestin is expressed in immature skeletal muscle cells prompted Kobayashi et al. (1998) to study staining patterns of nestin and desmin (DES; 125660) in rhabdomyosarcomas. They found that nestin immunoreactivity was present in all of 29 examined typical rhabdomyosarcomas, which also expressed desmin.
Yang et al. (2001) overexpressed mouse nestin cDNA as an enhanced GFP in COS-7 cells and found that nestin immunoreactivity was present in the filamentous cytoskeletal network.
Dahlstrand, J., Zimmerman, L. B., McKay, R. D. G., Lendahl, U. Characterization of the human nestin gene reveals a close evolutionary relationship to neurofilaments. J. Cell Sci. 103: 589-597, 1992. [PubMed: 1478958] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1242/jcs.103.2.589]
Hockfield, S., McKay, R. D. G. Identification of major cell classes in the developing mammalian nervous system. J. Neurosci. 5: 3310-3328, 1985. [PubMed: 4078630] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.05-12-03310.1985]
Kobayashi, M., Sjoberg, G., Soderhall, S., Lendahl, U., Sandstedt, B., Sejersen, T. Pediatric rhabdomyosarcomas express the intermediate filament nestin. Pediat. Res. 43: 386-392, 1998. [PubMed: 9505279] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199803000-00013]
Yang, J., Cheng, L., Yan, Y., Bian, W., Tomooka, Y., Shiurba, R., Jing, N. Mouse nestin cDNA cloning and protein expression in the cytoskeleton of transfected cells. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1520: 251-254, 2001. [PubMed: 11566362] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1016/s0167-4781(01)00275-5]