Cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) are a family of closely related, cell surface glycoproteins that are involved in cell-cell interactions and are thought to play an important role in embryogenesis and development. HCAM, also known as CD44, LHR, MDU2, MDU3, MIC4, Pgp1, HCELL, MUTCH-I or ECMR-III, is a 742 amino acid single-pass type I membrane protein that is involved in hematopoiesis, lymphocyte activation and tumor metastasis. Functioning as a receptor for hyaluronic acid (HA) and interacting with ligands such as osteopontin (OPN), HCAM mediates both cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions, thereby playing an essential role in cell adhesion and cell migration. HCAM contains one Link domain and, due to alternative splicing events, is expressed as multiple isoforms, some of which are designated CD44R, CDw44, CD44S, CD44H (hematopoietic) and CD44E (epithelial). While most of the HCAM splice varients are expressed in tissues throughout the body, one specific isoform, namely CD44H, is expressed at high levels in cancer tissue, suggesting an important role for the CD44H splice varient in tumor progression.
