Structural and functional characterization of two allelic variants of human cystatin D sharing a characteristic inhibition spectrum against mammalian cysteine proteinases
Human cystatin D is a novel member of the cystatin superfamily of cysteine proteinase inhibitors present in saliva and tears. Two alleles of the cystatin D gene (CST5), encoding protein variants with either Cys or Arg as residue 26 in their 122-residue polypeptide chains, are present in the population. Expression of the two alleles was investigated by immunochemical analyses of the secreted cystat
