Thought to provide a protective, lubricating barrier against particles and infectious agents at mucosal surfaces.
Subcellular locations: Cell membrane, Secreted, Extracellular space
May be liberated into the extracellular space following the phosphorylation of the intracellular C-terminus which induces the proteolytic cleavage and liberation of the extracellular domain.
Expressed in corneal and conjunctival epithelia (at protein level). Overexpressed in ovarian carcinomas and ovarian low malignant potential (LMP) tumors as compared to the expression in normal ovarian tissue and ovarian adenomas.