Anoctamin 9 (ANO9)

ANO9 belongs to the anoctamin family. The anoctamin proteins represent a novel family of membrane proteins with 10 members (ano1-10) in mammals. Some members are over-expressed in various cancers and diseases. Anoctamins are highly hydrophobic proteins with eight transmembrane domains (TMD) and one re-entry loop. Anoctamin proteins have tissue-specific patterns of expression. Although electrophysiological and biochemical studies in both native and heterologous expression systems provided important clues to understanding the function of anoctamin membrane proteins, the biological roles have been elucidated for only a few members of this family. It seems that not all anoctamin proteins operate as Ca²⁺-activated Cl^- channels, since ano9 and ano10 inhibited anion conductance produced by ano1.