Osteoglycin (OGN)

Osteoglycin is a protein which induces ectopic bone formation in conjunction with transforming growth factor beta. This protein is a small proteoglycan which contains tandem leucine-rich repeats (LRR). The gene expresses three transcript variants.The level of expression of this gene has been correlated with enlarged hearts and more specifically left ventricular hypertrophy.

The human gene encodes a predicted 298-amino acid precursor protein that is processed into a 103-amino acid mature protein with 96% identity to the bovine protein. Northern blot analysis detected 3 OGN mRNAs exclusively in 2 human osteosarcoma cell lines.