Human tear lipocalin

Human tear prealbumin, now called tear lipocalin, was originally described as a major protein of human tear fluid, which was thought to be tear specific. However, recent investigations demonstrated that it is identical with lingual von Ebner’s gland protein, and is also produced in prostate, nasal m...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)/Protein Structure and Molecular Enzymology 2000-10, Vol.1482 (1), p.241-248
Main Author: Redl, Bernhard
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amino Acid Sequence
Animals
Carrier Proteins - chemistry
Carrier Proteins - genetics
Carrier Proteins - physiology
Genetic Heterogeneity
Humans
Lipocalin 1
Molecular Sequence Data
Protein Conformation
Protein migrating faster than albumin
Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
Tear lipocalin
Tear specific prealbumin
Tears - chemistry
Von Ebner’s gland protein
Von Ebner’s gland protein, human
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Human tear prealbumin, now called tear lipocalin, was originally described as a major protein of human tear fluid, which was thought to be tear specific. However, recent investigations demonstrated that it is identical with lingual von Ebner’s gland protein, and is also produced in prostate, nasal mucosa and tracheal mucosa. Homologous proteins have been found in rat, pig and probably dog and horse. Tear lipocalin is an unusual lipocalin member, because of its high promiscuity for relative insoluble lipids and binding characteristics that differ from other members. In addition, it shows inhibitory activity on cysteine proteinases similar to cystatins, a feature unique among lipocalins. Although it acts as the principal lipid binding protein in tear fluid, a more general physiological function has to be proposed due to its wide distribution and properties. It would be ideally suited for scavenging of lipophilic, potentially harmful substances and thus might act as a general protection factor of epithelia.
ISSN:0167-4838
0006-3002
1879-2588
DOI:10.1016/S0167-4838(00)00142-4