Human CAR protein has a theoretical molecular weight of 40.0 kDa and is composed of 365 amino acids. The human CAR gene (CXADR) is found on chromosome 21. Alternative splicing is known to produce at least 2 splice variants known as hCAR1 and hCAR2 and are each composed of at least 7 exons. Pseudogenes of this gene are found on chromosomes 15, 18, and 21.
The protein is found to be expressed in various regions of the body including the heart, brain, and, more generally, epithelial and endothelial cells. Moreover, CAR expression is not found in normal or tumor cell lines. Expression of CAR in endothelial cells can be regulated by treatment with drugs.
CAR is essential for normal development of cardiomyocytes. The expression of CAR is high in developing tissues, including the heart and brain; postnatally it is expressed in epithelial cells and in adult cardiac muscle, it is localized at intercalated discs. Knocking out CAR is embryonic lethal in mice by day 11.5, coordinate with severe cardiac muscle abnormalities including left ventricularhyperplasia, sinuatrial valve abnormalities, pericardialedema, thoracic hemorrhaging, myocardial wall degeneration, regional apoptosis, reduced density and disorganization of myofibrils, and enlarged mitochondria. Cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of CAR after embryonic day 11 had no noticeable effect on development and postnatal life, suggesting that CAR is critical during a temporal window of cardiac development.
Studies from human hearts have shown that lower expression of CXADRmRNA is associated with a risk allele at chromosome 21q21, which may in fact predispose hearts to arrhythmias. To discern the mechanistic underpinnings, hearts from heterozygous CAR knockout mice subjected to acute myocardialischemia were evaluated and showed slowed ventricular conduction, earlier onset of ventriculararrhythmias, and increased susceptibility to arrhythmias. These findings were coordinate with a reduction in magnitude of the sodium current at intercalated discs; CAR coprecipitated with NaV1.5, which may provide a mechanistic link to this finding.
Neural and lymphatic
CAR is strongly expressed in the developing central nervous system where it is thought to mediate neurite outgrowth. In addition, expression of CAR is readily detectable in the adult nervous system.
It has also been shown that CAR is critical for the development of lymphatic vasculature and in forming lymphatic endothelial cell-cell junctions.
↑"Human PubMed Reference:". National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
↑"Mouse PubMed Reference:". National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
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