SPARC Like Protein 1 (SPARCL1)

Hevin is an evolutionarily conserved, 664-amino acid secreted protein. Hevin contains 7 potential N-linked glycosylation sites, an N-terminal signal peptide, a long acidic region rich in glu and asp, a cysteine-rich domain, and a C-terminal region with a 12-residue segment homologous to the calcium-binding loops of EF-hand structures in the calmodulin family of proteins . The 232 C-terminal amino acids of Hevin are 62% identical to the homologous portion of SPARC. Northern blot analysis revealed high expression of a 2.7-kb Hevin transcript in lymph node, brain, heart, lung, skeletal muscle, ovary, small intestine, and colon, with lower levels in placenta, pancreas, testis, spleen, and thymus, and no expression in kidney, liver, and peripheral blood leukocytes. Unlike SPARC, Hevin is absent from flat umbilical vein endothelial cells.