Programmed Cell Death Protein 6 (PDCD6)

PDCD6 encodes a calcium-binding protein belonging to the penta-EF-hand protein family. Calcium binding is important for homodimerization and for conformational changes required for binding to other protein partners. This gene product participates in T cell receptor-, Fas-, and glucocorticoid-induced programmed cell death. In mice deficient for this gene product, however, apoptosis was not blocked suggesting this gene product is functionally redundant.ALG2 is expressed as a 22-kD protein before FAS activation and thereafter as a 19-kD protein, probably due to N-terminal cleavage. Confocal microscopy and immunoprecipitation analysis demonstrated that ALG2 translocates from the cytoplasmic membrane to the cytosol during FAS-induced apoptosis and then dissociates from FAS after activation.