Hemojuvelin

4UI114873869585ENSG00000168509ENSMUSG00000038403Q6ZVN8Q7TQ32NM_145277NM_202004NM_213652NM_213653NM_001316767NM_027126NP_001303696NP_660320NP_973733NP_998817NP_998818NP_081402Hemojuvelin (HJV), also known as repulsive guidance molecule C (RGMc) or hemochromatosis type 2 protein (HFE2), is a membrane-bound and soluble protein in mammals that is responsible for the iron overload condition known as juvenile hemochromatosis in humans, a severe form of hemochromatosis. In humans, the hemojuvelin protein is encoded by the HFE2 gene. Hemojuvelin is a member of the repulsive guidance molecule family of proteins. Both RGMa and RGMb are found in the nervous system, while hemojuvelin is found in skeletal muscle and the liver. Hemojuvelin (HJV), also known as repulsive guidance molecule C (RGMc) or hemochromatosis type 2 protein (HFE2), is a membrane-bound and soluble protein in mammals that is responsible for the iron overload condition known as juvenile hemochromatosis in humans, a severe form of hemochromatosis. In humans, the hemojuvelin protein is encoded by the HFE2 gene. Hemojuvelin is a member of the repulsive guidance molecule family of proteins. Both RGMa and RGMb are found in the nervous system, while hemojuvelin is found in skeletal muscle and the liver. For many years the signal transduction pathways that regulate systemic iron homeostasis have been unknown. However it has been demonstrated that hemojuvelin interacts with bone morphogenetic protein (BMP), possibly as a co-receptor, and may signal via the SMAD pathway to regulate hepcidin expression. Associations with BMP2 and BMP4 have been described. Mouse HJV knock-out models confirmed that HJV is the gene responsible for juvenile hemochromatosis. Hepcidin levels in the liver are dramatically depressed in these knockout animals. A soluble form of HJV may be a molecule that suppresses hepcidin expression. RGMs may play inhibitory roles in prostate cancer by suppressing cell growth, adhesion, migration and invasion. RGMs can coordinate Smad-dependent and Smad-independent signalling of BMPs in prostate cancer and breast cancer cells. Furthermore, aberrant expression of RGMs was indicated in breast cancer. The perturbed expression was associated with disease progression and poor prognosis. RGMc/HJV is a 4-exon gene in mammals that undergoes alternative RNA splicing to yield 3 mRNAs with different 5’ untranslated regions (5’UTRs). Gene transcription is induced during myoblast differentiation, producing all 3 mRNAs. There are three critical promoter elements responsible for transcriptional activation in skeletal muscle (the tissue that has the highest level of RGMc expressesion per weight), comprising paired E-boxes, a putative Stat and/or Ets element, and a MEF2 site, and muscle transcription factors myogenin and MEF2C stimulate RGMc promoter function in non-muscle cells. As these elements are conserved in RGMc genes from multiple species, these results suggest that RGMc has been a muscle-enriched gene throughout its evolutionary history. RGMc/HJV, is transcriptionally regulated during muscle differentiation. Two classes of GPI-anchored and glycosylated HJV molecules are targeted to the membrane and undergo distinct fates. RGMc appears to undergo a complex processing that generates 2 soluble, single-chain forms, and two membrane-bound forms found as a (i) single-chain, and (ii) two-chain species which appears to be cleaved at a site within a partial von Willebrand factor domain.