Glypican 5 (GPC5)

Cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans are composed of a membrane-associated protein core substituted with a variable number of heparan sulfate chains. Members of the glypican-related integral membrane proteoglycan family (GRIPS) contain a core protein anchored to the cytoplasmic membrane via a glycosyl phosphatidylinositol linkage. These proteins may play a role in the control of cell division and growth regulation.The cDNA sequence of GPC5 predicts a 572-amino acid polypeptide with 21% identity to GPC1 and 40% identity to GPC3. Northern blot analysis revealed that the gene is expressed as a 3-kb message in brain and several other human tissues. Veugelers et al. (1997) found that GPC-transfectant cells expressed heparin sulfate proteoglycan core proteins that were not present in control cells.