Background:
Members of the leucine-rich repeat family include LRCH1, LRCH2, LRCH3 and LRCH4. All family members contain one calponin-homology domain and nine leucine-rich repeats. LRCH4 (leucine-rich repeats and calponin homology (CH) domain containing 4), also known as LRN, LRRN1, LRRN4 or SAP25, is a 683 amino acid protein that belongs to the leucine-rich repeat family. The carboxy-terminus of LRCH4 may act as a membrane anchor between cells, while the amino-terminus contains the leucine-rich domains, which is thought to be involved in ligand binding. The calponin homology (CH) domain is suggested to confer Actin binding to a variety of cytoskeletal and signaling molecules. The gene encoding LRCH4 maps to human chromosome 7, which houses over 1,000 genes and comprises nearly 5% of the human genome.