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Regucalcin was discovered in 1978 as a calcium-binding protein that does not contain EF-hand motif of Ca²⁺-binding domain [M. Yamaguchi and T. Yamamoto, Chem. Pharm. Bull. 26 1915–1918 (1978)]. In recent years, regucalcin has been demonstrated to play an important role as a regulatory protein in Ca²⁺ signaling in rat liver and kidney cells. The organization of the rat regucalcin gene consists of seven exons and six introns. The mRNA is mainly present in liver and kidney with a size of 1.8 kb. Hepatic regucalcin mRNA expression has been shown to be stimulated by various factors including calcium, calcitonin, insulin, and estrogen in rats. The mRNA is also expressed in hepatoma cells (Morris hepatoma, HepG2, and rat hepatoma H4-II-E cells). Regucalcin plays a role in the maintenance of intracellular Ca²⁺ homeostasis due to activating Ca²⁺ pump enzymes in the plasma membrane (basolateral …