Retinol Binding Protein 1, Cellular (RBP1)

RBP1 is the carrier protein involved in the transport of retinol (vitamin A alcohol) from the liver storage site to peripheral tissue. Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin necessary for growth, reproduction, differentiation of epithelial tissues, and vision. The gene harbors four exons encoding 24, 59, 33, and 16 amino acid residues respectively. The second intervening sequence alone occupies 19 kb of the 21 kb of the gene.

Retinol-binding protein-4 (RBP4) is the carrier protein involved in the transport of retinol from the liver storage site to peripheral tissue. On the other hand, cellular RBP (CRBP) is the intracellular carrier involved in intracellular movement of retinol.Colantuoni et al. (1985) isolated and sequenced a cDNA clone for the human CRBP gene.