ALCAM
Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

CD166 antigen is a 100-105 kD typeI transmembrane glycoprotein that is a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily of proteins. In humans it is encoded by the ALCAM gene. It is also called CD166 (cluster of differentiation 166), MEMD, SC-1/DM-GRASP/BEN in the chicken, and KG-CAM in the rat.
Some literature sources have also cited it as the CD6 ligand (CD6L). It is expressed on activated T cells, activated monocytes, epithelial cells, fibroblasts, neurons, melanoma cells, and also in sweat and sebaceous glands. CD166 protein expression is reported to be upregulated in a cell line deriving from a metastasizing melanoma. CD166 plays an important role in mediating adhesion interactions between thymic epithelial cells and CD6+ cells during intrathymic T cell development.
Recently, CD166 has also been used as a potential cancer stem cell marker.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “ALCAM”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Ideogram human chromosome 3.svg by National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Public domain
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