NELL2

Protein kinase C-binding protein NELL2 is a secreted glycoprotein that in humans is encoded by the NELL2 gene.^[5] It is a homolog of Nel, which is a gene present in the neural tissues of chickens.^[6]

NELL2
Identifiers
Aliases	NELL2, NRP2, neural EGFL like 2
External IDs	OMIM: 602320; MGI: 1858510; HomoloGene: 4488; GeneCards: NELL2; OMA:NELL2 - orthologs
Gene location (Human) Chr. Chromosome 12 (human)[1] Band 12q12 Start 44,508,275 bp[1] End 44,921,848 bp[1]
Gene location (Mouse) Chr. Chromosome 15 (mouse)[2] Band 15|15 E3 Start 94,973,111 bp[2] End 95,426,440 bp[2]
RNA expression pattern Bgee Human Mouse (ortholog) Top expressed in middle temporal gyrus Brodmann area 23 retinal pigment epithelium orbitofrontal cortex frontal pole superior frontal gyrus endothelial cell Brodmann area 10 germinal epithelium postcentral gyrus Top expressed in dentate gyrus of hippocampal formation granule cell primary visual cortex superior frontal gyrus medial dorsal nucleus CA3 field perirhinal cortex piriform cortex entorhinal cortex Region I of hippocampus proper medial geniculate nucleus More reference expression data BioGPS More reference expression data
Gene ontology Molecular function calcium ion binding protein binding protein kinase C binding heparin binding Cellular component extracellular region cytoplasm Biological process neuron cellular homeostasis Sources:Amigo / QuickGO
Orthologs Species Human Mouse Entrez 4753 54003 Ensembl ENSG00000184613 ENSMUSG00000022454 UniProt Q99435 Q61220 RefSeq (mRNA) NM_001145107 NM_001145108 NM_001145109 NM_001145110 NM_006159 NM_001289653 NM_016743 NM_001356950 NM_001356951 RefSeq (protein) NP_001138579 NP_001138580 NP_001138581 NP_001138582 NP_006150 NP_001276582 NP_001343879 NP_001343880 Location (UCSC) Chr 12: 44.51 – 44.92 Mb Chr 15: 94.97 – 95.43 Mb PubMed search [3] [4]
Wikidata
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This gene encodes a cytoplasmic protein that contains six epidermal growth factor (EGF) -like repeats. The encoded heterotrimeric protein may be involved in cell growth regulation and differentiation. A similar protein in rodents is involved in craniosynostosis. An alternative splice variant has been described but its full length sequence has not been determined.^[5]

Function

NELL2 has been implicated to be involved in a variety of different functions including neuronal development, sperm maturation, cancer progression and bone development.^{[7][8][9][10]}

NELL2 has been shown to have roles in neuronal polarization and axon growth.^[11] NELL2 is a negative regulator of axon guidance in the SLIT-ROBO signalling pathway where it binds with the ROBO3/Rig-1 receptor.^[12] It can also bind with ROBO2 under acidic conditions, where ROBO2 undergoes proteolytic cleavage.^[8]