17-Beta-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase Type 13 (HSD17b13)

By database analysis using HSD17B11 as query, followed by screening a human liver cDNA library, Liu et al. (2007) isolated HSD17B13, which they called SCDR9. The predicted 300-amino acid protein has a calculated molecular mass of 33.66 kD. HSD17B13 has a conserved TGXGXXXG motif involved in NADPH binding and a YXXXK motif related to its catalytic activity.

HSD17B13 shares 78% homology with HSD17B11. PCR amplification showed that HSD17B13 was highly expressed in liver with low levels in ovary, bone marrow, kidney, brain, lung, skeletal muscle, bladder, and testis. Immunofluorescence microscopy showed punctate distribution in the cytoplasm but with little overlap with an ER marker. HSD17B13 gene contains 7 exons and spans 17 kb.