Recombinant Mouse Progranulin Protein, CF

Progranulin, also known as acrogranin, PC cell-derived growth factor (PCDGF) and epithelin/granulin precursor, is a ubiquitously expressed, 88 kDa, secreted glycoprotein (1-3). Structurally, it belongs to none of the well-established growth factor families (4). Mouse Progranulin is 589 amino acids (aa) in length and contains a 17 aa signal sequence and a 572 aa mature region that has four potential sites for N-linked glycosylation. It has a highly repetitive organization, containing seven tandem copies of a 55-57 aa consensus motif that contains 12 conserved cysteine residues: VXCX_5-6CX₅CCX₈CCX₆CCXDX₂HCCPX₄CX_5-6CX₂ (1). Progranulin is secreted in an intact form (2, 4) or undergoes proteolysis leading to the release of multiple peptides made from the seven tandem repeats, the granulins (5-7). Mouse Progranulin shares 87% and 75% aa sequence identity with rat and human Progranulin, respectively. Progranulin is involved in the regulation of cellular proliferation, as well as differentiation, development, and pathological processes (4). It has been isolated as a differentially expressed gene during mesothelial differentiation (8), macrophage development (9), development synovium of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis (10), sexual differentiation of the brain (11), and has also been shown to be a mediator of cartilage proliferation plus of wound response and tissue repair (4, 12-13). High levels of Progranulin expression have been found to be associated with several human cancers, and are believed to contribute to tumorigenesis in breast cancer, clear cell renal carcinoma, invasive ovarian carcinoma, glioblastoma, adipocyte teratoma, and multiple myeloma (4-5, 12, 14-20).