CCN4

This gene encodes a member of the WNT1 inducible signaling pathway (WISP) protein subfamily, which belongs to the connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) family. WNT1 is a member of a family of cysteine-rich, glycosylated signaling proteins that mediate diverse developmental processes. The CTGF family members are characterized by four conserved cysteine-rich domains: insulin-like growth factor-binding domain, von Willebrand factor type C module, thrombospondin domain and C-terminal cystine knot-like domain. This gene may be downstream in the WNT1 signaling pathway that is relevant to malignant transformation. It is expressed at a high level in fibroblast cells, and overexpressed in colon tumors. The encoded protein binds to decorin and biglycan, two members of a family of small leucine-rich proteoglycans present in the extracellular matrix of connective tissue, and possibly prevents the inhibitory activity of decorin and biglycan in tumor cell proliferation. It also attenuates p53-mediated apoptosis in response to DNA damage through activation of the Akt kinase. It is 83% identical to the mouse protein at the amino acid level. Multiple alternatively spliced transcript variants have been identified. [provided by RefSeq, Mar 2011]

Description

Cellular communication network factor 4

Tissue specificity

Low tissue specificity

Subcell location

Cytosol

Predicted location

Secreted to extracellular matrix

Protein family

Cancer-related genes
Mapped to neXtProt
Mapped to UniProt SWISS-PROT
Predicted secreted proteins

Chromosome

8 (133191039 - 133231690)

Ensembl ID

ENSG00000104415  (ver. 103.38)

Orthologs

Mouse Ccn4: ENSMUSG00000005124

UniProt

O95388

neXtProt

NX_O95388

Human splice variants
Mouse splice variants

Protein structure