NELL1: Proteins and Enzymes

NELL1 (Neural EGF-like Like Protein 1) is an approximately 140 kDa modular glycoprotein that plays an important role in bone physiology. Mature human NELL1 shares 93% amino acid identity with mouse and rat NELL1. NELL1 can be retained in the cytosol where it interacts with Apoptosis-related Protein 3 (ARP-3) and becomes phosphorylated by PKC. In addition, NELL1 is secreted as an approximately 400 kDa noncovalent homotrimer of heavily glycosylated subunits. NELL1 promotes the osteogenic differentiation of adipose-derived stromal/stem cells and inhibits adipogenic differentiation. Binding of NELL1 to Integrin beta 1 was shown to be critical for its role in promoting osteogenic differentiation and adhesion to the extracellular matrix.