Antibody News

Centromere protein F (CENPF), also named mitosin, is a large human protein of 3113 amino acid residues. Its expression and localization are cell cycle-dependent. The protein levels are low in G1 phase but elevated from S to early M phase. CENPF is a nuclear matrix protein in interphase but is relocated to the kinetochore, the major site of microtubule attachment on chromosome, in M phase (1). Accumulating evidence suggests that CENPF is an important protein involved in chromosome alignment and kinetochore-microtubule interaction.

Depletion of CENP-F results in chromosome misalignment and improper...

Beclin 1 is the mammalian orthologue of the yeast Apg6/Vps30 gene. Beclin 1 can complement the defect in autophagy present in apg6 yeast strains and stimulate autophagy when overexpressed in mammalian cells (1) and can bind to Bcl2, an important regulator of apoptosis (2) suggesting a role in two fundamentally important cellular pathways: autophagy and apoptosis. Beclin 1 is mono allelically deleted in human breast and ovarian cancers and is expressed at reduced levels in tumors, and is present in a complex bound to glutamate receptor δ2 (GluRδ2) in the nervous system leading to the activation of autophagy and death of cerebellar Purkinje cells (3).

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Carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX) is a membrane-associated carbonic anhydrase, strongly induced by hypoxia. CA IX is overexpressed by several cancer cells from many tumor types, and is a component of the pH regulatory system invoked by these cells to combat the deleterious effects of a high rate of glycolytic metabolism. CA IX functions to help produce and maintain an intracellular pH favorable for tumor cell growth and survival, while at the same time participating in the generation of an increasingly acidic extracellular space, facilitating tumor cell invasiveness (1).

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The beta-2 integrins, a family of four cell surface transmembrane glycoproteins expressed only on leukocytes, include CD11a/CD18, CD11b/CD18, CD11c/CD18, and CD11d/CD18. They consist of a common beta subunit (CD18) and homologous alpha subunits (CD11a-d) that bind noncovalently to form an alpha/beta heterodimer. Studies with functionally inhibitory monoclonal antibodies to CD11b/CD18 demonstrate the role of CD11b/CD18 in inflammatory processes, including polymorpho nuclear leukocyte (PMN) adhesion and migration across the endo and epithelium (1).

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Actins are highly conserved, commonly found and abundant proteins involved in several types of cell motility as well as cytoskeleton maintenance. In vertebrate species, three main groups of actin isoforms, the alpha, beta and gamma, have been identified. Alpha actins are found in muscle tissues and are a major constituent of the contractile apparatus. Beta and gamma actins co-exist in most cell types as components of the cytoskeleton and mediators of internal cell motility. Actin antibodies have been used for basic studies such as classifying and identifying how different subtypes of plant plasmodesmata function in intracellular transport across cell and tissue boundaries (1). to determining the stoichimetry of Nck-/N-WASp (neural Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein)-dependent...

Neutrophins and their receptors play an important role in regulating the development of both the central and peripheral nervous systems. Neurotrophin ligand binding to each of their respective Trk cellular receptors is essential for the growth and survival of neurons. Specifically, TrkB and its primary ligand brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) are rapidly and transiently induced in response to neuronal injury, as monitored by TrkB antibodies, as well as crucial for synaptic plasticity (1).

Using TrkB antibodies for Western and immunohistochemistry, Unsain,...

Synaptophysin is an integral membrane glycoprotein found within the small synaptic vesicles in brain and endocrine cells. Studies with synaptophysin antibodies show that it is one of the most abundant small vesicle proteins, constituting approximately 7% of the total vesicle. Synaptophysin antibodies were used to monitor synaptophysin and synaptobrevin complexes in mature nerve terminals, where it was found that the dual complex associated with other fusion proteins such as syntaxin and SNAP25 to allow the SNARE complex to form, and therefore enable vesicle membrane fusion (1). Using synaptophysin antibodies for immunofluorescence and immunoEM (electron microscope) studies, Tixier-Vidal, et. al. showed that synaptophysin is released from the golgi apparatus in a vesicular form and transported to nerve endings (2).  While it has...

Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) is one of the major intermediate filament axonal proteins found in mature astrocytes, the star-shaped glial cells that comprise the majority of cells within the central nervous system (1). Astrocytes perform a wide range of functions - from uptake and regulation of neutrotransmitters, to intercellular space ionic balance and regulation, to blood/brain barrier formation, and recent studies suggest a role in learning and memory. Immunofluorescence studies with GFAP antibodies demonstrated the value of GFAP as a marker to distinguish astrocytes from all other glial cells in development (2). A Nature Genetics paper using GFAP antibodies to monitor GFAP expression was able to link the aberrant expression and overexpression of a mutated GFAP variant with a rare...

Beta Catenin is a cytosolic, 88 kDa intracellular protein that tightly associates with cell surface cadherin glycoproteins. It is one member of the catenin family that includes alpha Catenin, beta Catenin, and gamma Catenin. Colocalization studies using beta-catenin antibodies demonstrate that beta-catenin is a crucial link between cytoplasmic, cytoskeletal actin and transmembrane cadherin for tight cell-to-cell adhesion (1,2). Beta-catenin enters the nucleus and interacts with the Lymphoid enhancer factor-1 (LEF1) transcription factor family. It is normally inhibited by the glycogen synthase kinase (GSK) or casein kinase 1 as phosphorylation of beta-catenin targets it for ubiquitin-mediated degredation. The beta-catenin/TCF pathway is implicated in T-...

 Perforin is a calcium-dependent pore forming cytolytic protein. Perforin is partially homologous to the terminal components of the membrane attack complex of complement and produces pores of up to 20nm in diameter on target membranes. Killer lymphocytes release perforin and granzymes from cytotoxic granules into the immunological synapse to destroy target cells as a critical mechanism in the defense against viruses and cancer (1).

Increased perforin...

 Synaptophysin (a presynaptic vesicle protein) is an integral membrane glycoprotein originally isolated from presynaptic vesicles of bovine neurons. Synaptophysin is found in all nerve terminals and synaptophysin measurements have been used to quantify the number of terminals present during neuroanatomical remodeling and neural development (1). Accumulation of beta Amyloid and loss of synapses are hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease.

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Myosin is a super family of actin based molecular motors that hydrolyze ATP and generate physical force to move specific molecules inside the cell. This super family, divided into at least twenty four classes based on head domain sequence similarity and domain organization^. The processivity of myosins along an actin filament and transport of intracellular ‘cargo’ are achieved by generating physical force from chemical energy of ATP followed by appropriate conformational changes (1).

Myosin has raised an interest because of its role in...