Lumican, a member of the small leucine-rich proteoglycans (SLRPs) family of proteins, is a keratan sulfate proteoglycan present in large quantities in the corneal stroma and in interstitial collagenous matrices of the heart, aorta, skeletal muscle, skin, and intervertebral discs. During collagen fibrillogenesis, lumican regulates the assembly of collagens into higher order fibrils, limiting the growth of fibrils in diameter. Lumican is present in the extracellular matrix of human articular cartilage at all ages, with a far greater abundance in the adult. The gene encoding human lumican maps to chromosome 12q21.3-q22.
