The leader sequence triggers and enhances several functions of clusterin and is instrumental in the progression of human prostate cancer in vivo and in vitro.

To investigate the role of the leader sequence (which during clusterin biosynthesis facilitates its proper post-translational processing and secretion) in the functional activities of clusterin, a ubiquitous secretory glycoprotein with many biological functions, reported to be pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic in target cells, but for which the dual mechanism remains unclear.