| Type: | Family | Name: | Calcium-activated chloride channel protein |
| Description: | This entry represents a family of Ca(2+)-regulated chloride channels (CLCA) which includes bovine, murine and human proteins [, ]. Each CLCA exhibits a distinct, often overlapping, tissue expression pattern. With the exception of the truncated, secreted protein hCLCA3 [], they are synthesized as an approximately 125 kDa precursor transmembrane glycoprotein that is rapidly cleaved into 90 and 35 kDa subunits. The human proteins have been shown to affect a large number of cell functions including chloride conductance, epithelial secretion, cell-cell adhesion, apoptosis, cell cycle control, mucus production in asthma, and blood pressure. The CLCA proteins expressed on the luminal surface of lung vascular endothelia (bCLCA2; mCLCA1; hCLCA2) serve as adhesion molecules for lung metastatic cancer cells, mediating vascular arrest and lung colonization. Expression of hCLCA2 in normal mammary epithelium is consistently lost in human breast cancer and in all tumorigenic breast cancer cell lines. Re-expression of hCLCA2 in human breast cancer cells abrogates tumorigenicity in nude mice, implying that hCLCA2 acts as a tumour suppressor in breast cancer. | Short Name: | CaCC_prot |
