WAP four-disulfide core domain protein 2 - also known as Human Epididymis Protein 4[5] (HE4) - is a protein that in humans is encoded by the WFDC2gene.[6][7][8]
This gene encodes a protein that is a member of the WFDC domain family. The WFDC domain, or WAP Signature motif, contains eight cysteines forming four disulfide bonds at the core of the protein, and functions as a protease inhibitor in many family members. This gene is expressed in pulmonary epithelial cells among other tissues, and was also found to be expressed in some ovarian cancers.[5] The encoded protein is a small secretory protein, which may be involved in sperm maturation.[8]
^Kirchhoff C, Habben I, Ivell R, Krull N (Mar 1992). "A major human epididymis-specific cDNA encodes a protein with sequence homology to extracellular proteinase inhibitors". Biol Reprod. 45 (2): 350–7. doi:10.1095/biolreprod45.2.350. PMID1686187.
^Schummer M, Ng WV, Bumgarner RE, Nelson PS, Schummer B, Bednarski DW, Hassell L, Baldwin RL, Karlan BY, Hood L (Dec 1999). "Comparative hybridization of an array of 21,500 ovarian cDNAs for the discovery of genes overexpressed in ovarian carcinomas". Gene. 238 (2): 375–85. doi:10.1016/S0378-1119(99)00342-X. PMID10570965.
Maruyama K, Sugano S (1994). "Oligo-capping: a simple method to replace the cap structure of eukaryotic mRNAs with oligoribonucleotides". Gene. 138 (1–2): 171–4. doi:10.1016/0378-1119(94)90802-8. PMID8125298.
Suzuki Y, Yoshitomo-Nakagawa K, Maruyama K, Suyama A, Sugano S (1997). "Construction and characterization of a full length-enriched and a 5'-end-enriched cDNA library". Gene. 200 (1–2): 149–56. doi:10.1016/S0378-1119(97)00411-3. PMID9373149.
Hellström I, Raycraft J, Hayden-Ledbetter M, Ledbetter JA, Schummer M, McIntosh M, Drescher C, Urban N, Hellström KE (2003). "The HE4 (WFDC2) protein is a biomarker for ovarian carcinoma". Cancer Res. 63 (13): 3695–700. PMID12839961.
Ramachandran P, Boontheung P, Xie Y, Sondej M, Wong DT, Loo JA (2006). "Identification of N-linked glycoproteins in human saliva by glycoprotein capture and mass spectrometry". J. Proteome Res. 5 (6): 1493–503. doi:10.1021/pr050492k. PMID16740002.
