Description
Product Characteristics: CD44 is a transmembrane glycoprotein expressed on the surface of most cells, which serves as a receptor for hyaluronan. CD44 mediates angiogenesis, cell adhesion, proliferation and migration, it is thus important for lymphocyte activation, recirculation and homing, it can thus serve e.g. as a modulator of macrophage recruitment in response to pathogen. Although CD44 functions are essential for physiological activities of normal cells, elevated CD44 expression correlates with poor prognosis in many carcinomas, facilitating tumour growth and metastasis, antiapoptosis and directional motility of cancer cells.
Target Information: The protein encoded by this gene is a cell-surface glycoprotein involved in cell-cell interactions, cell adhesion and migration. It is a receptor for hyaluronic acid (HA) and can also interact with other ligands, such as osteopontin, collagens, and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). This protein participates in a wide variety of cellular functions including lymphocyte activation, recirculation and homing, hematopoiesis, and tumor metastasis. Transcripts for this gene undergo complex alternative splicing that results in many functionally distinct isoforms, however, the full length nature of some of these variants has not been determined. Alternative splicing is the basis for the structural and functional diversity of this protein, and may be related to tumor metastasis. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]