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A circulating variant of human proalbumin

Abstract

ALBUMIN is initially synthesised in the liver as preproalbumin1. This has an N-terminal peptide which is removed before the nascent protein is released from the rough endoplasmic reticulum. The product, proalbumin, is in turn cleaved in the Golgi vesicles to give the secreted albumin2. We report here the finding of a family with a circulating variant of proalbumin. This provides information on the structure of human proalbumin and the specificity of the propeptide cleavage site. It also raises the problem of the biological function of the propeptide and the necessity for cleavage.

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BRENNAN, S., CARRELL, R. A circulating variant of human proalbumin. Nature 274, 908–909 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/274908a0

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