“…The family includes EMILIN1 (Colombatti et al, 1985; Bressan et al, 1993; Doliana et al, 1999), EMILIN2 (Doliana et al, 2001), Multimerin1 (MMRN1; Hayward et al, 1991, 1995), and Multimerin2 (MMRN2; Sanz-Moncasi et al, 1994; Christian et al, 2001). Apart from MMRN1 that is deposited in the ECM but for the most part is sequestered in megakaryocytes, endothelial cells (ECs), and platelets granules (Adam et al, 2005), the members of the EMILIN family are constituents of the ECM Under normal conditions the expression of each individual gene overlaps with those of some other members of the family; the only exception is apparently the central nervous system, where only EMILIN2 is detected outside blood vessels, at least at the mRNA level (Braghetta et al, 2004). Moreover, EMILIN2 is specifically and abundantly expressed in mouse cochlear basilar membrane (Amma et al, 2003).…”