Kulahin Nikolaj, Walmod Peter S
ENKAM Pharmaceuticals A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Neurochem Res. 2008 Mar 27. doi: 10.1007/s11064-008-9614-z.
Cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) constitute a large class of plasma membrane-anchored proteins that mediate attachment between neighboring cells and between cells and the surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM). However, CAMs are more than simple mediators of cell adhesion. The neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) is a well characterized, ubiquitously expressed CAM that is highly expressed in the nervous system. In addition to mediating cell adhesion, NCAM participates in a multitude of cellular events, including survival, migration, and differentiation of cells, outgrowth of neurites, and formation and plasticity of synapses. NCAM shares an overall sequence identity of approximately 44% with the neural cell adhesion molecule 2 (NCAM2), a protein also known as olfactory cell adhesion molecule (OCAM) and Rb-8 neural cell adhesion molecule (RNCAM), and the region-for-region sequence homology between the two proteins suggests that they are transcribed from paralogous genes. However, very little is known about the function of NCAM2, although it originally was described more than 20 years ago. In this review we summarize the known properties and functions of NCAM2 and describe some of the differences and similarities between NCAM and NCAM2.
细胞黏附分子（CAMs）构成了一大类锚定在质膜上的蛋白质，介导相邻细胞之间以及细胞与周围细胞外基质（ECM）之间的附着。然而，细胞黏附分子不仅仅是简单的细胞黏附介质。神经细胞黏附分子（NCAM）是一种特征明确、广泛表达的细胞黏附分子，在神经系统中高度表达。除了介导细胞黏附外，NCAM还参与多种细胞活动，包括细胞的存活、迁移和分化、神经突的生长以及突触的形成和可塑性。神经细胞黏附分子与神经细胞黏附分子2（NCAM2）的总体序列同一性约为44%，NCAM2也被称为嗅觉细胞黏附分子（OCAM）和Rb - 8神经细胞黏附分子（RNCAM），这两种蛋白质之间逐个区域的序列同源性表明它们是由旁系同源基因转录而来。然而，尽管NCAM2在20多年前就被首次描述，但对其功能却知之甚少。在这篇综述中，我们总结了NCAM2的已知特性和功能，并描述了NCAM和NCAM2之间的一些异同。
