GlycoProtein Non-metastatic Melanoma B (GPNMB)was discovered in 1995, through a study on two melanoma cell lines with low and high metastatic abilities. The authors determined and characterized GPNMB cDNA that was highly expressed in the low metastatic cell line. GPNMB is located on the short arm of chromosome 7 (7p15) and known as neurokinin-1 type, hematopoietic growth factor inducible (HGFIN). It is a type I transmembrane protein that has three unique domains: an extracellular, a transmembrane, and a cytoplasmic one. The extracellular domain consists of two regions with different properties, an integrin-binding motif (RGD) and a polycystic kidney disease (PKD) domain. The cytoplasmic tail has two functionally different parts including a dileucine-based sorting signal and a half immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif(hemITAM).
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