Tenomodulin, also referred to as tendin, myodulin, Tnmd, or TeM, is a protein encoded by the TNMD (Tnmd) gene and was discovered independently by Brandau and Shukunami in 2001 as a gene sharing high similarity with the already known chondromodulin-1 (Chm1). It is a tendon-specific gene marker known to be important for tendon maturation with key implications for the residing tendon stem/progenitor cells (TSPCs) as well as for the regulation of endothelial cell migration in chordae tendineae cordis in the heart and in experimental tumour models. It is highly expressed in tendons, explaining the rationale behind its name and the establishment as being marker gene for tendinous and ligamentous lineages.
