WFDC2

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Identifiers
Aliases
External IDs	GeneCards: [1]
Orthologs
Species	Human	Mouse
Entrez	n/a	n/a
Ensembl	n/a	n/a
UniProt	n/a	n/a
RefSeq (mRNA)	n/a	n/a
RefSeq (protein)	n/a	n/a
Location (UCSC)	n/a	n/a
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Wikidata
View/Edit Human

WAP four-disulfide core domain protein 2 - also known as Human Epididymis Protein 4 (HE4) - is a protein that in humans is encoded by the WFDC2 gene.

HE4 is a tumor marker of ovarian cancer, with 80% sensitivity at a cut-off of 150 pmol/L.

Function

This gene encodes a protein that is a member of the WFDC domain family. The WFDC domain, or WAP Signature motif, contains eight cysteines forming four disulfide bonds at the core of the protein, and functions as a protease inhibitor in many family members. This gene is expressed in pulmonary epithelial cells, and was also found to be expressed in some ovarian cancers. The encoded protein is a small secretory protein, which may be involved in sperm maturation.

Further reading

• Kirchhoff C (1998). "Molecular characterization of epididymal proteins". Rev. Reprod. 3 (2): 86–95. doi:10.1530/ror.0.0030086. PMID 9685187.
• Kirchhoff C, Osterhoff C, Habben I, Ivell R, Kirchloff C (1990). "Cloning and analysis of mRNAs expressed specifically in the human epididymis". Int. J. Androl. 13 (2): 155–67. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2605.1990.tb00972.x. PMID 1693137.
• Maruyama K, Sugano S (1994). "Oligo-capping: a simple method to replace the cap structure of eukaryotic mRNAs with oligoribonucleotides". Gene. 138 (1–2): 171–4. doi:10.1016/0378-1119(94)90802-8. PMID 8125298.
• Suzuki Y, Yoshitomo-Nakagawa K, Maruyama K, Suyama A, Sugano S (1997). "Construction and characterization of a full length-enriched and a 5'-end-enriched cDNA library". Gene. 200 (1–2): 149–56. doi:10.1016/S0378-1119(97)00411-3. PMID 9373149.
• Bingle L, Singleton V, Bingle CD (2002). "The putative ovarian tumour marker gene HE4 (WFDC2), is expressed in normal tissues and undergoes complex alternative splicing to yield multiple protein isoforms". Oncogene. 21 (17): 2768–73. doi:10.1038/sj.onc.1205363. PMID 11965550.
• Clauss A, Lilja H, Lundwall A (2002). "A locus on human chromosome 20 contains several genes expressing protease inhibitor domains with homology to whey acidic protein". Biochem. J. 368 (Pt 1): 233–42. doi:10.1042/BJ20020869. PMC 1222987. PMID 12206714.
• Hellström I, Raycraft J, Hayden-Ledbetter M, Ledbetter JA, Schummer M, McIntosh M, Drescher C, Urban N, Hellström KE (2003). "The HE4 (WFDC2) protein is a biomarker for ovarian carcinoma". Cancer Res. 63 (13): 3695–700. PMID 12839961.
• Drapkin R, von Horsten HH, Lin Y, Mok SC, Crum CP, Welch WR, Hecht JL (2005). "Human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) is a secreted glycoprotein that is overexpressed by serous and endometrioid ovarian carcinomas". Cancer Res. 65 (6): 2162–9. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-04-3924. PMID 15781627.
• Clauss A, Lilja H, Lundwall A (2005). "The evolution of a genetic locus encoding small serine proteinase inhibitors". Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 333 (2): 383–9. doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2005.05.125. PMC 1939935. PMID 15950183.
• Bingle L, Cross SS, High AS, Wallace WA, Rassl D, Yuan G, Hellstrom I, Campos MA, Bingle CD (2006). "WFDC2 (HE4): A potential role in the innate immunity of the oral cavity and respiratory tract and the development of adenocarcinomas of the lung". Respir. Res. 7 (1): 61. doi:10.1186/1465-9921-7-61. PMC 1459147. PMID 16600032.
• Ramachandran P, Boontheung P, Xie Y, Sondej M, Wong DT, Loo JA (2006). "Identification of N-linked glycoproteins in human saliva by glycoprotein capture and mass spectrometry". J. Proteome Res. 5 (6): 1493–503. doi:10.1021/pr050492k. PMID 16740002.