MINA is nuclear localized, myc-inducible protein that is thought to play a role in mammalian cell proliferation. Treatment of cancer cells lines such as the colon cancer cell line SW680 with siRNA against MINA inhibits cell growth, demonstrating that MINA may be a potential therapeutic target. MINA regulates several genes related to cell adhesion and metabolism that have also been shown to be regulated by c-Myc, but also regulates other genes whose expression are not modulated by c-Myc such as EGFR, IL-6 and HGF. MINA has also been found to act as a repressor to IL-4 expression in T cells, indicating that it may also play a role in T cell differentiation and genetic variation in T helper type 2 bias.
