Background information
Protocadherins are a large family of cadherin-like cell adhesion proteins that are involved in the establishment and maintenance of neuronal connections in the brain. There are three protocadherin gene clusters, designated alpha, beta and gamma, all of which contain multiple tandemly arranged genes. PCDH8 (protocadherin-8), also known as Arcadlin or PAPC, is a 1,070 amino acid single-pass type I membrane protein that contains six cadherin domains and belongs to the protocadherin family. Localized to the cell membrane and expressed specifically in fetal and adult brain, PCDH8 is thought to play a role in cell adhesion events in the central nervous system (CNS). PCDH8 is inactivated or silenced in breast cancer, suggesting a possible role in tumor suppression. Two isoforms of PCDH8 that differ in their cytoplasmic tails are expressed due to alternative splicing events.
