Background of the antigen
The Annexins are a family of structurally similar proteins. Annexins bind to phospholipids and may be involved in regulation of membrane transport, membrane channel activity, and interaction of the cell membrane with the extracellular matrix. Annexin A7 is a member of the annexin family of calcium dependent phospholipid binding proteins. The Annexin A7 gene contains 14 exons and spans approximately 34 kb of DNA. Structural analysis of the protein suggests that Annexin A7 is a membrane binding protein with diverse properties including voltage sensitive calcium channel activity, ion selectivity and membrane fusion.