Versican [SEP] found in taxon
Versican
Versican is a large extracellular matrix proteoglycan that is present in a variety of human tissues. It is encoded by the "VCAN" gene.
Versican is a large chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan with an apparent molecular mass of more than 1000kDa. In 1989, Zimmermann and Ruoslahti cloned and sequenced the core protein of fibroblast chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan. They designated it versican in recognition of its versatile modular structure.
Versican belongs to the lectican protein family, with aggrecan (abundant in cartilage), brevican and neurocan (nervous system
nervous system, versican is found in perineuronal nets, where it may stabilize synaptic connections. Versican can also inhibit nervous system regeneration and axonal growth following an injury to the central nervous system.
Clinical significance Cancer and metastasis.
Increased versican expression is often observed in tumor growth in tissues such as breast, brain, ovary, gastrointestinal tract, prostate, and melanoma, sarcoma, and peritoneal mesothelioma. A fifth isoform of versican, V4, that is similar to V1 but with a shortened beta-GAG region, is present