Family With Sequence Similarity 3, Member C (FAM3C)

This gene is a member of the family with sequence similarity 3 (FAM3) family and encodes a secreted protein with a GG domain. A change in expression of this protein has been noted in pancreatic cancer-derived cells. Alternate transcriptional splice variants which encode the same protein have been characterized.

By searching a database for sequences similar to FAM3A, followed by RT-PCR of heart mRNA, Zhu et al. (2002) cloned FAM3C. The deduced 227-amino acid protein contains an N-terminal signal peptide. The authors predicted that FAM3C forms a 4-helix bundle, and 3-dimensional modeling indicated that 4 cysteines could form 2 disulfide bonds linking helices 1 and 4 and helices 2 and 3. Northern blot analysis detected FAM3C expression in almost all tissues tested.