CXCL12 also known as SDF-1 is belonging to the CXC chemokine family. It is encoded by the CXCL12 gene. Murine CXCL12 is expressed as two isoforms that differ only in the C-terminal tail. And both SDF-1 isoforms undergo proteolytic processing of the first two N-terminal amino acids. Contrast to SDF-1β, SDF-1α is shorter by four amino acids at the C-terminal tail. On the cell surface, the receptor for this chemokine is CXCR4 and syndecan4. CXCL12 is strongly chemotactic for T-lymphocytes, monocytes, but not neutrophils. SDF-1 is highly conserved between species, murine CXCL12α shares approximately 93% amino acid sequence identity with human CXCL12α.
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