Tenascin

Tenascins are

.

Types

There are four members of the tenascin gene family: tenascin-C, tenascin-R, tenascin-X and tenascin-W.

• tendons, bone and cartilage
  .
• Tenascin-R is found in the developing and adult nervous system.
• Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.^[2]
• Tenascin-W is found in the kidney and in developing bone.

The basic structure is 14 EGF-like repeats towards the N-terminal end, and 8 or more fibronectin-III domains which vary upon species and variant.

Tenascin-C is the most intensely studied member of the family. It has anti-adhesive properties, causing cells in tissue culture to become rounded after it is added to the medium. One mechanism to explain this may come from its ability to bind to the extracellular matrix

. The expression of tenascin-C in the stroma of certain tumors is associated with a poor prognosis.

References

• Chiquet-Ehrismann R, Chiquet M (2003). "Tenascins: regulation and putative functions during pathological stress". J Pathol. 200 (4): 488–99.
  PMID 12845616
  .
• Chiquet-Ehrismann R, Tucker R (2004). "Connective tissues: signalling by tenascins". Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 36 (6): 1085–9.
  PMID 15094123
  .
• Hsia H, Schwarzbauer J (2005). "Meet the tenascins: multifunctional and mysterious". J Biol Chem. 280 (29): 26641–4.
  PMID 15932878
  .
• Jones F, Jones P (2000). "The tenascin family of ECM glycoproteins: structure, function, and regulation during embryonic development and tissue remodeling". Dev Dyn. 218 (2): 235–59.
  PMID 10842355
  .

External links

• Tenascin at the U.S. National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)