Carcinoembryonic Antigen Related Cell Adhesion Molecule 4 (CEACAM4)

CEACAM4 is a gene which encodes carcinoembryonic antigen. The domain-N of W264 is 89% similar to that of NCA-50 at amino acid level, whereas the domain-N of W236 is only 49 and 43% similar to those of NCA-50 and pregnancy-specific beta 1-glycoprotein-11 (PSG11), respectively, indicating that W236 belongs to a new subfamily within the CEA family. These three new species are particularly unique in respect that they lack the repetitive immunoglobulin-related domains that have been universally found in the human CEA gene family members. The biochemical and immunochemical properties of the recombinant proteins of these cDNA clones, however, did not coincide with those of six NCA species previously identified in granulocytes at protein level, suggesting that, in granulocytes, there exist at least 12 NCA or NCA-related species whose expression is under complex control.