The generation of the different isoforms of OPN. The transcription of OPN genomic DNA produces three different splice variants of OPN mRNA, i.e., OPN-a mRNA, OPN-b mRNA and OPN-c mRNA. OPN-a mRNA contains all of the seven exons, whereas OPN-b mRNA and OPN-c mRNA lack exon-5 and exon-4, respectively. During the translation process in the cytoplasm, OPN-a mRNA produces two distinct isoforms, OPN-a (sOPN) and OPN-a (iOPN) through the AUG or non-AUG translation sites, respectively. The AUG initiates translation to produce OPN-a (sOPN), which is further modified in the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi complex and secreted outside the cell. The alternative non-AUG site initiates translation to generate OPN-a (iOPN), which remains inside the cell. OPN-b mRNA and OPN-c mRNA produce OPN-b and OPN-c that are secreted out from the cytoplasm. The figure was created in Biorender.com.