CD44

Cell-surface receptor that plays a role in cell-cell interactions, cell adhesion and migration, helping them to sense and respond to changes in the tissue microenvironment. Participates thereby in a wide variety of cellular functions including the activation, recirculation and homing of T-lymphocytes, hematopoiesis, inflammation and response to bacterial infection. Engages, through its ectodomain, extracellular matrix components such as hyaluronan/HA, collagen, growth factors, cytokines or proteases and serves as a platform for signal transduction by assembling, via its cytoplasmic domain, protein complexes containing receptor kinases and membrane proteases. Such effectors include PKN2, the RhoGTPases RAC1 and RHOA, Rho-kinases and phospholipase C that coordinate signaling pathways promoting calcium mobilization and actin-mediated cytoskeleton reorganization essential for cell migration and adhesion. Upon interaction with LGALS9 ligand, activates downstream signaling components including LCK, ERK and MAPK to promotes NK cell activation..

Function from UniProtKB (P16070), read 2026-09-23. CC BY 4.0.