The protein encoded by this gene is a secreted chaperone that can under some stress conditions also be found in the cell cytosol. It has been suggested to be involved in several basic biological events such as cell death, tumor progression, and neurodegenerative disorders. Alternate splicing results in both coding and non-coding variants.[provided by RefSeq, May 2011]
Forensic Context
A study in humans demonstrated that the CLU is significantly upregulated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with heart failure post-acute myocardial infarction compared to non-heart failure controls [Wei et al. DOI:10.3389/fcvm.2025.1611668]. A study in mice demonstrated that the CLU was upregulated in microglia at 14 and 60 days post-traumatic brain injury, showing a stable expression pattern at 2 days post-injury before increasing [Izzy et al. DOI:10.3389/fncel.2019.00307]. In equine doping control research, the CLU was identified as a protein significantly increased during administration of a testosterone ester, and a targeted multiple reaction monitoring assay was developed for its detection [Reichel DOI:10.1016/J.Forsciint.2011.07.031].