Background of Clusterin

The mature form of human-secreted clusterin (CLU) is a secreted heterodimeric glycoprotein of 75-80 kDa. As other secreted proteins, translation of CLU mRNA results in a preprotein composed of 449 amino acids (psCLU). The psCLU is transported into the Golgi and then heavily glycosylated. A proteolysis process removes the leader signal polypeptide and cleaves the preprotein into an α-chain and a β-chain. The two chains are linked in an antiparallel fashion through five disulfide bonds.