Species Human Entrez 3680 | Human Mouse Ensembl ENSG00000144668 | |
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Aliases ITGA9, ALPHA-RLC, ITGA4L, RLC, integrin subunit alpha 9 External IDs MGI: 104756 HomoloGene: 1664 GeneCards: ITGA9 | ||
Integrin alpha-9 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ITGA9 gene.
Contents
Function
This gene encodes an alpha integrin. Integrins are heterodimeric integral membrane glycoproteins composed of an alpha chain and a beta chain that mediate cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion. The protein encoded by this gene, when bound to the beta 1 chain, forms an integrin that is a receptor for VCAM1, cytotactin and osteopontin. Expression of this gene has been found to be upregulated in small cell lung cancers.
Interactions
The α9 subunit forms a heterodimeric complex with a β1 subunit to form the α9β1 integrin. This integrin participates in cell adhesion with various ligands in the extracellular matrix (ECM), including extra domain A (EDA) fibronectin, tenascin-C, ADAMs, EMELIN1, osteopontin, and VEGF. α9β1 binding is independent of the RGD peptide sequence.