Description

Other Name: Cysteine protease ATG4C (EC 3.4.22.-;AUT-like 3 cysteine endopeptidase;Autophagin-3;Autophagy-related cysteine endopeptidase 3;Autophagy-related protein 4 homolog C)

Background: Autophagy is the process by which endogenous proteins and damaged organelles are destroyed intracellularly. Autophagy is postulated to be essential for cell homeostasis and cell remodeling during differentiation, metamorphosis, non-apoptotic cell death, and aging. Reduced levels of autophagy have been described in some malignant tumors, and a role for autophagy in controlling the unregulated cell growth linked to cancer has been proposed. This gene encodes a member of the autophagin protein family. The encoded protein is also designated as a member of the C-54 family of cysteine proteases. Alternate transcriptional splice variants, encoding the same protein, have been characterized. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008],