Cystatin A Antibody

Cystatin A, also called Stefin A, is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CSTA gene. Cystatin A is a cysteine proteinase inhibitor that belongs to family 1 of the cystatin superfamily. This gene was assigned to human chromosome 3q21.1. This is an intracellular thiol proteinase inhibitor. The protein plays an important role in desmosome-mediated cell-cell adhesion in the lower levels of the epidermis and has been proposed as prognostic and diagnostic tools for cancer.