INSL4 explained

Early placenta insulin-like peptide is a protein that in humans is encoded by the INSL4 gene.^{[1] [2] [3]}

INSL4 encodes the insulin-like 4 protein, a member of the insulin superfamily. INSL4 encodes a precursor that undergoes post-translational cleavage to produce 3 polypeptide chains, A-C, that form tertiary structures composed of either all three chains, or just the A and B chains. Expression of INSL4 products occurs within the early placental cytotrophoblast and syncytiotrophoblast.^[3]

Further reading

• Koman A, Cazaubon S, Couraud PO, etal . Molecular characterization and in vitro biological activity of placentin, a new member of the insulin gene family . J. Biol. Chem. . 271 . 34 . 20238–41 . 1996 . 8702754 . 10.1074/jbc.271.34.20238 . free .
• Bellet D, Lavaissiere L, Mock P, etal . Identification of pro-EPIL and EPIL peptides translated from insulin-like 4 (INSL4) mRNA in human placenta . J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. . 82 . 9 . 3169–72 . 1997 . 9284764 . 10.1210/jcem.82.9.4359 . free .
• Laurent A, Rouillac C, Delezoide AL, etal . Insulin-like 4 (INSL4) gene expression in human embryonic and trophoblastic tissues . Mol. Reprod. Dev. . 51 . 2 . 123–9 . 1999 . 9740319 . 10.1002/(SICI)1098-2795(199810)51:2<123::AID-MRD1>3.0.CO;2-S . 13108724 .
• Janneau JL, Maldonado-Estrada J, Tachdjian G, etal . Transcriptional expression of genes involved in cell invasion and migration by normal and tumoral trophoblast cells . J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. . 87 . 11 . 5336–9 . 2002 . 12414911 . 10.1210/jc.2002-021093 . free .
• Strausberg RL, Feingold EA, Grouse LH, etal . Generation and initial analysis of more than 15,000 full-length human and mouse cDNA sequences . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. . 99 . 26 . 16899–903 . 2003 . 12477932 . 10.1073/pnas.242603899 . 139241 . 2002PNAS...9916899M . free .
• Bièche I, Laurent A, Laurendeau I, etal . Placenta-specific INSL4 expression is mediated by a human endogenous retrovirus element . Biol. Reprod. . 68 . 4 . 1422–9 . 2004 . 12606452 . 10.1095/biolreprod.102.010322 . free .
• Humphray SJ, Oliver K, Hunt AR, etal . DNA sequence and analysis of human chromosome 9 . Nature . 429 . 6990 . 369–74 . 2004 . 15164053 . 10.1038/nature02465 . 2734081 . 2004Natur.429..369H .
• Zhang Z, Henzel WJ . Signal peptide prediction based on analysis of experimentally verified cleavage sites . Protein Sci. . 13 . 10 . 2819–24 . 2005 . 15340161 . 10.1110/ps.04682504 . 2286551 .
• Gerhard DS, Wagner L, Feingold EA, etal . The status, quality, and expansion of the NIH full-length cDNA project: the Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC) . Genome Res. . 14 . 10B . 2121–7 . 2004 . 15489334 . 10.1101/gr.2596504 . 528928 .
• Millar L, Streiner N, Webster L, etal . Early placental insulin-like protein (INSL4 or EPIL) in placental and fetal membrane growth . Biol. Reprod. . 73 . 4 . 695–702 . 2006 . 15958731 . 10.1095/biolreprod.105.039859 . 1382170 .

Notes and References

1. Chassin D, Laurent A, Janneau JL, Berger R, Bellet D . Cloning of a new member of the insulin gene superfamily (INSL4) expressed in human placenta . Genomics . 29 . 2 . 465–70 . Aug 1996 . 8666396 . 10.1006/geno.1995.9980 .
2. Veitia R, Laurent A, Quintana-Murci L, Ottolenghi C, Fellous M, Vidaud M, McElreavey K . The INSL4 gene maps close to WI-5527 at 9p24.1→p23.3 clustered with two relaxin genes and outside the critical region for the monosomy 9p syndrome . Cytogenet Cell Genet . 81 . 3–4 . 275–7 . Oct 1998 . 9730618 . 10.1159/000015045 . 46801238 .
3. Web site: Entrez Gene: INSL4 insulin-like 4 (placenta).