Melanoma-associated antigen 1 (MAGE1 or MAGEA1) belongs to a family of genes that are active in various types of tumours and silent in normal tissues except in male germ-line cells [, ]. MAGEA1 can act as a transcriptional repressor by binding to the transcriptional regulator SKIP (Ski Interacting Protein). MAGEA1 was also found to actively repress transcription by binding and recruiting histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1). It could therefore contribute to specific gene expression patterns driving tumour cell growth or spermatogenesis [].
