Background of the antigen
NCAM2 is an 837 amino acid protein encoded by the human gene NCAM2. NCAM2 contains five immunoglobulin-like domains, two Fibronectin type III domains, a transmembrane domain and a cytoplasmic domain. The gene is expressed most strongly in human adult and fetal brain. NCAM2 is a member of the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) family. NCAMs are closely related cell surface glycoproteins involved in cell to cell interactions during growth and are thought to play an important role in embryogenesis and development. NCAM2 is a considered a good candidate for involvement in certain Down syndrome phenotypes because a slight overexpression of NCAMs increases many-fold the homotypic adhesion properties of cells. Stat5 regulates NCAM2 in vivo by binding to the NCAM2 intron in the NKL natural killer cell line; this binding is induced by cytokines that activate Stat5. Neither Stat1 nor Stat3 bind to this region, despite sharing a consensus binding sequence with Stat5.
