alpha 2-Macroglobulin Antibody [Alexa Fluor™ Plus 555]

• Clonality: Polyclonal
• Host: Goat
• Conjugate: Alexa Fluor Plus 555

alpha 2-Macroglobulin Antibody [Alexa Fluor™ Plus 555] Summary

• Specificity: Detects human alpha ₂-Macroglobulin in direct ELISAs and Western blots. In direct ELISAs, less than 2% cross-reactivity with recombinant human alpha ₂-Macroglobulin-like 1 is observed.
• Isotype: IgG
• Clonality: Polyclonal
• Host: Goat

Packaging, Storage & Formulations

• Storage: Protect from light. Do not freeze. 12 months from date of receipt, 2 to 8 °C as supplied
• Buffer: Supplied 0.2 mg/mL in a saline solution containing BSA and Sodium Azide.

Notes

This product is produced by and ships from R&D Systems, Inc., a Bio-Techne brand.

Background

Human alpha ₂-macroglobulin (h alpha 2M) is a serum glycoprotein that has sequence similarity to other members of the alpha 2M family including complement components C3, C4 and C5 (1). alpha 2M is synthesized as a polypeptide of 1474 amino acids with a signal peptide (23 residues) (2). The mature protein is a tetramer (720 kDa) of 4 identical subunits (180 kDa), which form two disulfide bond-linked dimers. As a general and irreversible protease inhibitor implicated in many processes, alpha 2M is able to inhibit all four classes of proteases by a unique trapping mechanism. The bait region of h alpha 2M (residues 690‑728) contains specific cleavage sites for different proteases. The cleavage of the bait region by a protease induces a conformation change in alpha 2M, which then traps and forms a covalent bond with the protease. The trapped protease remains active against small peptide substrates but loses its ability to interact with large protein substrates or inhibitors.

1. Sottrup-Jensen, L. et al. (1985) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 82:9.
2. Kan, C.C. et al. (1985) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 82:2282.

Limitations

This product is for research use only and is not approved for use in humans or in clinical diagnosis. Primary Antibodies are guaranteed for 1 year from date of receipt.