Paired Related Homeobox Protein 2 (PRRX2)

PRRX2 is a member of the paired family of homeobox proteins. Expression is localized to proliferating fetal fibroblasts and the developing dermal layer, with downregulated expression in adult skin. Increases in expression of this gene during fetal but not adult wound healing suggest a possible role in mechanisms that control mammalian dermal regeneration and prevent formation of scar response to wounding. The composite 813-nucleotide cDNA encodes a putative 164-amino acid protein with 74% overall identity to mouse Prx2, showing high conservation in the homeodomain and extreme 3-prime region. PRX2 is expressed as a single 1.3-kb transcript. PRX2 is more strongly expressed in normal fetal than in adult skin, much more strongly expressed in both fetal and adult proliferating fibroblasts, and not expressed in keratinocytes.