protein_function: Complexes with metalloproteinases (such as collagenases)and irreversibly inactivates them by binding to their catalyticzinc cofactor.
Metalloproteinase inhibitor 4 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the TIMP4 gene. This gene belongs to the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases gene family. The proteins encoded by this gene family are inhibitors of the matrix metalloproteinases, a group of peptidases involved in degradation of the extracellular matrix. TIMP4 gene is mapped to chromosome 3p25. TIMP4 gene contains 5 exons that span 6 kb of genomic DNA. The gene is expressed as a 1.4-kb transcript abundant in heart and present at low levels in several other tissues. Expressed TIMP4 inhibits MMPs in vitro. What??s more, TIMP-4 binds both progelatinase A and the C domain in a similar manner to that of TIMP-2.