Hemicentins (Hmcns)are conserved extracellular matrix proteins (ECMs) characterised by a single von Willebrand A (VWA) domain at the amino terminus, a long stretch of tandem immunoglobulin domains, multiple tandem epidermal growth factors (EGFs), and a single fibulin-like carboxyl-terminal module []. While invertebrates have a single hmcn gene, usually two paralogues exist in vertebrates, called Hmcn1 and Hmcn2 []. Hemicentin-1 (Hmcn1) promotes cleavage furrow maturation during cytokinesis in preimplantation embryos []and may play a role in the architecture of adhesive and flexible epithelial cell junctions []. It may also play a role during myocardial remodeling by imparting an effect on cardiac fibroblast migration [].Hemicentin-2 (Hmcn2) acts in functional redundancy with fibulin isoforms to regulate tissue adhesion and cell migration [].
