Lymphocyte Antigen 6E (LY6E)

The deduced amino acid sequence predicts a cell surface protein containing 20 amino acids at the N-terminal end corresponding to a signal peptide and an extracellular sequence containing 111 amino acids.The RIGE shares some homology with CD59 and with a number of growth factor receptors. It shares high sequence homology with the murine LY6 multigene family, whose members are small cysteine-rich proteins differentially expressed in several hematopoietic cell lines and with apparent function in signal transduction. RIGE is the closest human homolog of the LY6 family. They noted that expression of RIGE is not restricted to myeloid differentiation, because it is also present in thymocytes and in a number of other tissues at different levels.