This family consists of several mammalian pre-pro-megakaryocyte potentiating factor precursor (MPF) or mesothelin proteins. Mesothelin is a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-linked glycoprotein highly expressed in mesothelial cells, mesotheliomas, and ovarian cancer [1,2], which participates in cell adhesion, tumour progression, metastasis, and drug resistance [3]. Due to its overexpression in various tumours, it constitutes a diagnostic an therapy target [3,4]. This protein is predicted have superhelical structures with ARM-type repeats.

1: Mesothelin is not required for normal mouse development or reproduction. Bera TK, Pastan I; Mol Cell Biol 2000;20:2902-2906. PMID:10733593

2: Soluble member(s) of the mesothelin/megakaryocyte potentiating factor family are detectable in sera from patients with ovarian carcinoma. Scholler N, Fu N, Yang Y, Ye Z, Goodman GE, Hellstrom KE, Hellstrom I; Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1999;96:11531-11536. PMID:10500211

3: Insights Into the Role of Mesothelin as a Diagnostic and Therapeutic Target in Ovarian Carcinoma. Shen J, Sun X, Zhou J; Front Oncol. 2020;10:1263. PMID:32983962

4: Mesothelin is a novel cell surface disease marker and potential therapeutic target in acute myeloid leukemia. Kaeding AJ, Barwe SP, Gopalakrishnapillai A, Ries RE, Alonzo TA, Gerbing RB, Correnti C, Loken MR, Broderson LE, Pardo L, Le QH, Tang T, Leonti AR, Smith JL, Chou CK, Xu M, Triche T, Kornblau SM, Kolb EA, Tarlock K, Meshinchi S; Blood Adv. 2021;5:2350-2361. PMID:33938941