The protein encoded by this gene is a member of the lipophilin subfamily, part of the uteroglobin superfamily, and is an ortholog of prostatein, the major secretory glycoprotein of the rat ventral prostate gland. Lipophilin gene products are widely expressed in normal tissues, especially in endocrine-responsive organs. Assuming that human lipophilins are the functional counterparts of prostatein, they may be transcriptionally regulated by steroid hormones, with the ability to bind androgens, other steroids and possibly bind and concentrate estramustine, a chemotherapeutic agent widely used for prostate cancer. Although the gene has been reported to be on chromosome 10, this sequence appears to be from a cluster of genes on chromosome 11 that includes mammaglobin 2.[5]
SCGB1D2 expression is high in mammary tissue, and is sometimes used for identification and detection of disseminated breast cancer cells.[6]
^"Human PubMed Reference:". National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
^Zhao C, Nguyen T, Yusifov T, Glasgow BJ, Lehrer RI (March 1999). "Lipophilins: human peptides homologous to rat prostatein". Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. 256 (1): 147–55. doi:10.1006/bbrc.1999.0274. PMID10066439.
Sjödin A, Guo D, Lund-Johansen M, Krossnes BK, Lilleng P, Henriksson R, Hedman H (April 2005). "Secretoglobins in the human pituitary: high expression of lipophilin B and its down-regulation in pituitary adenomas". Acta Neuropathologica. 109 (4): 381–6. doi:10.1007/s00401-004-0972-6. PMID15668787. S2CID20395605.
Carter D, Dillon DC, Reynolds LD, Retter MW, Fanger G, Molesh DA, Sleath PR, McNeill PD, Vedvick TS, Reed SG, Persing DH, Houghton RL (February 2003). "Serum antibodies to lipophilin B detected in late stage breast cancer patients". Clinical Cancer Research. 9 (2): 749–54. PMID12576445.
Carter D, Douglass JF, Cornellison CD, Retter MW, Johnson JC, Bennington AA, Fleming TP, Reed SG, Houghton RL, Diamond DL, Vedvick TS (May 2002). "Purification and characterization of the mammaglobin/lipophilin B complex, a promising diagnostic marker for breast cancer". Biochemistry. 41 (21): 6714–22. doi:10.1021/bi0159884. PMID12022875.
