Extracellular matrix protein 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ECM1 gene. [5] [6] [7]
This gene encodes an extracellular protein containing motifs with a cysteine pattern characteristic of the cysteine pattern of the ligand-binding "double-loop" domains of the albumin protein family. This gene maps outside the epidermal differentiation complex (EDC), a cluster of three gene families involved in epidermal differentiation. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms have been described. [7]
ECM1 is implicated in breast cancer, thyroid cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, and other cancers, and also in ulcerative colitis [8] Germline mutations in ECM-1 cause the genetic disease lipoid proteinosis. Autoimmune attack on ECM-1 is responsible for lichen sclerosus. (see the Atlas of Genetics and Cytogenetics in Oncology and Haematology [9] ).