Mouse cluster of differentiation 44,CD44 ELI

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 (PubMed:8343954, PubMed:25065622).

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 (By similarity).

{ECO:0000250|UniProtKB:P16070, ECO:0000269|PubMed:25065622, ECO:0000269|PubMed:8343954}.