CD146

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CD146, the melanoma cell adhesion molecule (MCAM), is a 113kDa cell adhesion molecule currently used as a marker for endothelial cell lineage. Its function is still poorly understood, but evidence points to it being part of the endothelial junction associated with the actin cytoskeleton. A member of the Immunoglobulin superfamily, it consists of five Ig domains, a transmembrane domain, and a cytoplasmic region. It is expressed on chicken embryonic spleen and thymus, activated human T cells, endothelial progenitors such as angioblasts and mesenchymal stem cells, and strongly expressed on blood vessel endothelium and smooth muscle.

Two isoforms exist (MCAM long (MCAM-1), and MCAM short, or MCAM-s) which differ in the length of their cytoplasmic domain. Activation of these isoforms seems to produce functional differences as well. Natural killer cells transfected with MCAM-1 demonstrate decreased rolling velocity and increased cell adhesion to an endothelial cell monolayer and increased microvilli formation while cells transfected with MCAM-s showed no change in adhesion characteristics. Since these characteristics are important in leukocyte extravasation, MCAM-1 may be an important part of the inflammatory response.

CD146 has been demonstrated to appear on a small subset of T and B lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of healthy individuals. The CD146+ T cells display an immunophenotype consistent with effector memory cells and have a distinct gene profile from the CD146- T cells.^[1][2]

[edit] References

1. ^ Elshal MF, Khan SS, Takahashi Y, Solomon MA, and McCoy JP: CD146 (Mel-CAM), an Adhesion Marker of Endothelial Cells, is A Novel Marker of Lymphocyte Subset Activation in Normal Peripheral Blood. Blood 106(8):2923-2924, 2005.
2. ^ Elshal MF, Khan SS, Raghavachari N, Takahashi Y, Barb J, Bailey JJ, Munson PJ, Solomon MA, Danner RL, and McCoy JP: A Unique Population of Effector Memory Lymphocytes Identified by CD146 having a Distinct Immunophenotypic and Genomic Profile. BMC Immunology 8:29, 2007.

• Guezguez B, Vigneron P, Lamerant N, Kieda C, Jaffredo T, Dunon D (2007). "Dual Role of Melanoma Cell Adhesion Molecule (MCAM)/CD146 in Lymphocyte Endothelium Interaction: MCAM/CD146 Promotes Rolling via Microvilli Induction in Lymphocyte and Is an Endothelial Adhesion Receptor". J Immunol. 179(10):6673-85.

[edit] External links

• MeSH CD146+Antigen