KSP Cadherin monoclonal antibody

The cadherins are a family of Ca2+-dependent adhesion molecules that function to mediate cell-cell binding critical to the maintenance of structure and morphogenesis. Cadherins each contain a large extracellular domain at the N-terminus, which is characterized by a series of five homologous repeats, the most distal of which is thought to be responsible for binding specificity. Cadherin-16, also known as Ksp-cadherin, is a type I membrane protein which is kidney-specific. Cadherin-16 is expressed exclusively in the basolateral membrane of renal tubular epithelial cells. The human Ksp-cadherin gene (cadherin-16) maps to chromosome 16q22.1. The mouse Ksp-cadherin gene was localized to a highly syntenic region of distal chromosome 8.