Background of the antigen
Fibulin-7 is a 439 amino acid extracellular matrix protein that belongs to the Fibulin family. Containing two EGF-like domains and one sushi (CCP/SCR) domain, Fibulin-7 exists as four alternatively spliced isoforms. Fibulin-7 is considered an adhesion protein that interacts with extracellular matrix molecules in developing teeth, and may be involved in differentiation and maintenance of odontoblasts as well as in dentin formation. Fibulin-7 is post-translationally glycosylated with N-linked oligosaccharides and interacts with heparin, fibronectin, fibulin-1 and DSP (dentin sialophosphoprotein). Fibulin-7 is encoded by a gene located on human chromosome 2, which consists of 237 million bases, encodes over 1,400 genes and makes up approximately 8% of the human genome.
