Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule (NCAM)

CD56; NCAM1; MSK39; N-CAM-1

SPN	V600
HGNC	7656
MGI	97281
PubMed	9442880
RGD	67378
UniProt	P13591
Wiki	NCAM

Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule (NCAM, also the cluster of differentiation CD56) is a homophilic binding glycoprotein expressed on the surface of neurons, glia, skeletal muscle and natural killer cells. NCAM has been implicated as having a role in cell-cell adhesion, neurite outgrowth, synaptic plasticity, and learning and memory.

NCAM can be posttranslationally modified by the addition of polysialic acid (PSA) to the fifth Ig domain, which is thought to abrogate its homophilic binding properties and can lead to reduced cell adhesion important in cell migration and invasion. PSA has been shown to be critical in learning and memory. Removal of PSA from NCAM by the enzyme endoneuraminidase (EndoN) has been shown to abolish long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD).

Reference

"Complete sequence and in vitro expression of a tissue-specific phosphatidylinositol-linked N-CAM isoform from skeletal muscle."
Development 104:165-173(1988) [PubMed] [Europe PMC] [Abstract]

"Molecular and functional analysis of human natural killer cell-associated neural cell adhesion molecule (N-CAM/CD56)."
J. Immunol. 146:4421-4426(1991) [PubMed] [Europe PMC] [Abstract]

"Complementary DNA sequence encoding the major neural cell adhesion molecule isoform in a human small cell lung cancer cell line."
Lung Cancer 10:307-318(1994) [PubMed] [Europe PMC] [Abstract]

"Complete sequencing and characterization of 21,243 full-length human cDNAs."
Nat. Genet. 36:40-45(2004) [PubMed] [Europe PMC] [Abstract]

"The status, quality, and expansion of the NIH full-length cDNA project: the Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC)."
Genome Res. 14:2121-2127(2004) [PubMed] [Europe PMC] [Abstract]

"Splicing of the VASE exon of neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) in human small-cell lung carcinoma (SCLC)."
Int. J. Cancer 50:118-123(1992) [PubMed] [Europe PMC] [Abstract]

"Human muscle neural cell adhesion molecule (N-CAM): identification of a muscle-specific sequence in the extracellular domain."
Cell 50:1119-1130(1987) [PubMed] [Europe PMC] [Abstract]

"Alternative splicing generates a secreted form of N-CAM in muscle and brain."
Cell 55:955-964(1988) [PubMed] [Europe PMC] [Abstract]

"Human plasma N-glycoproteome analysis by immunoaffinity subtraction, hydrazide chemistry, and mass spectrometry."
J. Proteome Res. 4:2070-2080(2005) [PubMed] [Europe PMC] [Abstract]

"An enzyme assisted RP-RPLC approach for in-depth analysis of human liver phosphoproteome."
J. Proteomics 96:253-262(2014) [PubMed] [Europe PMC] [Abstract]