Functional relevance of protein glycosylation to the pro-inflammatory effects of extracellular matrix metalloproteinase inducer (EMMPRIN) on monocytes/macrophages.

Background and Objective Extracellular matrix metalloproteinase inducer (EMMPRIN) is an important pro-inflammatory protein involved in the cellular functions of monocytes/macrophages. We have hypothesized that high-level heterogeneousness of protein glycosylation of EMMPRIN may have functional relevance to its biological effects and affect the inflammatory activity of monocytes/macrophages.