Membrane Spanning 4 Domains Subfamily A, Member 12 (MS4A12)

MS4A12 is a cell surface protein found primarily in the apical membrane of colonocytes. Silencing of this gene in colon cancer cells inhibits the proliferation, cell motility, and chemotactic invasion of cells. This gene is part of a cluster of similar genes found on chromosome 11. Two transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene.

By database searching for homologs of CD20 (MS4A1), Liang and Tedder (2001) obtained a cDNA encoding MS4A12. The predicted 267-amino acid protein is 60% identical to the pig homolog. PCR analysis detected no expression of MS4A12 in cDNA from multiple hemopoietic cell lines, but an EST was isolated from colon.