medical Definition of ankyrin
: any of a family of proteins that link spectrin in the cytoskeleton to proteins in the cell membrane and play a role in maintaining membrane stability
- Ankyrins were originally identified in erythrocytes and, in addition to the heart, they are also expressed in brain, kidney, skeletal muscle, liver and lung.
- —Sabina Kuperschmidt et al., in Cardiovascular Genetics and Genomics for the Cardiologist, 2007
- The defect is a mutation of a gene that codes for a protein called ankyrin-B, which plays an important but until now unknown role in the complex series of electrical and chemical events that govern the heartbeat.
- —The Chicago Tribune, 9 Feb. 2003
