BMP4 (BMP2B, ZYME) is a 116-residue, highly conserved bone morphogenic protein that plays an important role in neural stem cell signaling during embryonic development. It regulates the growth and differentiation of neural precursor cells into neuronal and glial cells during embryogenesis and also in the injured central nervous system (CNS). It promotes astrocyte differentiation and is necessary for suppressing the differentiation of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells into oligodendrocytes. It is upregulated in injured tissue in the CNS. It is also upregulated in demyelination diseases, and it is possible that suppressing or altering BMP4 expression may result in remyelination and potentially provide a means of restoring cognitive or motor function. In immunohistochemistry, BMP4 has extracellular and secretory positivity in smooth muscle, the lung, the kidney at low levels, the normal prostate, and also neoplastic and cancerous prostate tissue. References: Stem Cells Int. 2016; 2016: 9260592, PMID: 27293450; Vitam Horm. 2015;99:195-222, PMID: 26279377;