Antibody News

IRE1 resides in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) as a transmembrane protein with both serine-threonine kinase and endoribonuclease activities. It acts as an unfolded protein response (UPR) sensor through XBP1 transcriptional activation and has been found to have many physiological functions due to the fundamental importance of protein folding. Lipson’s group used the IRE1 antibody in pancreatic beta cells to demonstrate that IRE1 phosphorylation in response to high glucose conditions is coupled to insulin biosynthesis (1). In liver cells, IRE1 antibody was used to show demonstrate that cannabidiol (CBD)-induced apoptosis activates the ER stress response including the IRE1 pathway and other pro-apoptotic pathways including c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) (2). This...

PINK1 is a protein serine/threonine kinase (PTK) that protects the organelles from cellular stress and controls selective autophagy to clear damage. Exner, et. al. were among the first to report that PINK1 deficiency in humans was linked to autosomal recessive occurrences of Parkinson's disease (PD) and neurogenerative pathology (1). They employed RNA interference-mediated down regulation of PINK1 and PINK1 antibody to show that their mitochondrial defect knockdown could be rescued by overexpression of parkin, a ubiquitin-ligase complex component that has also been heavily linked to familial PD.

Glandular tissues synthesise substances for release, such as hormones and enzymes. The term adenocarcinoma is used to describe a cancer that originates within a glandular tissue, for example the ovary.

The incidence of ovarian cancer is low, yet ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynaecological malignancy and typically has a poor prognosis. There are currently known to be more than 30 different types of ovarian cancer, of which approximately 90% originate from epithelial cells. To date, the most well-established biomarker for the diagnosis of ovarian cancer is MUC16, previously known as CA125. However MUC16 is associated with several other pathological conditions and work is on-going to fully elucidate its role in cancer cell growth and disease progression (1). MUC16 is a tumor-associated antigen that is cleaved from the surface of...

CD34 is a cell surface glycoprotein that aids cells in cell-cell adhesion. It is expressed on endothelial cells where it is known to bind L-selectin and may aid in migration of T-cells. Moreover, it is expressed on hematopoietic stem cells (HSC), muscle satellite cells, and endothelial cells and may serve as a cell surface marker for characterizing these cell populations.  Although these cells, including HSCs, are rare, CD34 antibodies facilitate their study by allowing researchers to identify, count, and purify these cells using flow cytometry or FACS.

HSCs that express CD34 are commonly isolated from the bone marrow and blood of adult donors.  Recent studies have examined more efficient means of extracting cells expressing CD34.  In these studies, researchers demonstrated that umbilical cord...

53BP1 (p53 binding protein 1) was originally thought to be a p53 transcriptional enhancing partner, but now has been shown to be an ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) substrate. It is a late DNA damage response (DDR) marker, appearing in the telophase/cytokinesis phase in mitotic mammalian cells (1). 53BP1 antibody was employed to show the absence of a full DDR response in mitotic cells – this response is also suppressed by high levels of cyclin-dependent kinase1 (CDK1) activation. Another cell cycle study involving 53BP1 antibody focused on characterizing those genomic loci within metaphase chromosomes that are prone to gaps and breaks, also known as common fragile sites (2).  Their findings suggest a model of DNA damage where the formation of large nuclear bodies containing 53BP1, MCD1, and OPT domains is triggered in G1 cells in response to replication inhibitors...

PIEZO1, and its close homologue PIEZO2, are mechanosensitive ion channel proteins. Mechanosensitive ion channels couple protein conformation to the mechanics of the surrounding membrane, and switch between a closed state and an open state in response to changes in membrane tension, thickness, or curvature. Cells use this information to ensure viability under conditions of osmotic stress or membrane deformation (1).

PIEZO1, also known as FAM38A, is a large (2521 amino acid, 287kDa) protein with multiple transmembrane domains, and bears little resemblance to other ion channel proteins. Using GFP fusion constructs of ion channels with known stoichiometry, Coste et al have shown that PIEZO1 assembles as a homo-tetramer in living cells. This same group used PIEZO1 antibodies to generate Western blot data to support this observation and, additionally, demonstrated that PIEZO1 is...

Hypoxia inducible factors (HIFs) are transcription factors that regulate the cellular response to decreases in oxygen levels. Under conditions of hypoxia HIFs activate the transcription of a diverse range of genes, resulting in increased oxygen delivery to the cell or metabolic adaptation.

Like all transcription factors, HIFs require careful regulation. This is mediated by post-translational modifications including phosphorylation, acetylation and hydroxylation. Prolyl hydroxylation is one of the most well studied regulators of HIF levels; this is catalysed by a family of proteins known as the HIF prolyl hydroxylases.

Three mammalian HIF prolyl hydroxylases have been identified (1).  HIF prolyl hydroxylase 1 (also known as PHD1, EGL nine homolog 2, HPH-1) is constitutively expressed, and is pre-dominantly localised to the nucleus where it plays a pivotal role in targeting...

TRF2 (telomeric repeat-binding factor 2) is a homodimeric protein that binds the double-stranded 5'-TTAGGG-3' repeat in telomeres. It plays a critical role in the maintenance of telomeres, protecting telomeres against end-to-end chromosomal fusion, and recruiting a number of factors/enzymes required for telomere protection such as the shelterin complex/telosome (TRF1, TRF2, TIN2, RAP1, ACD and POT1), RAP1 and DCLRE1B. Together with DCLRE1B/Apollo, TRF2 plays a key role in T-loop formation and preventing aberrant telomere topology.

NBS1 (Nijmegen breakage syndrome protein 1) is a component of the MRN complex (Mre11-Rad50-Nbs1) that plays important role in detecting DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) and triggering the downstream cascade. DSBs can be caused by ionizing radiation, chemotherapy drugs, metabolic ROS, replication errors, programmed enzymatic activities during meiosis/V(D)J recombination, etc. NBS1 acts as a DSB sensor, co-activator of DSB-induced cell cycle checkpoint signaling, and also the repair-effector via two competing DSB repair pathways - homologous recombination (HR) and non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ). The MRN complex also associates with telomeres at the terminal ends of linear chromosomes and contributes to their maintenance.

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The DYKDDDDK Epitope Tag antibody was raised against a short, artificial sequence that is widely and commonly used as a protein fusion tag. It is pervasively present in a vast amount of scientific studies, and is a very powerful investigative research tool for applications such as immunofluorescence, immunoprecipitation, Western blot, and immunohistochemistry. The DYKDDDDK Epitope Tag antibody was engineered by Park's group at the Rockefeller University as a more superior antibody for improved detection and sensitivity in a wide variety of methods and investigative analyses (1). This antibody was assessed and validated for efficacy in various immunodetection methods, especially immunofluoresence immmunohistochemistry and flow cytometry.

The cytoskeleton consists of three major types of cytosolic fibers: microtubules, microfilaments (actin filaments), and intermediate filaments. Tubulins are the microtubule building block and exist as globular dimeric proteins of alpha/beta chains. There are five distinct forms: alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and epsilon tubulin. Alpha and beta tubulins assemble into heterodimers which then multimerize to form the long microtubule filaments. Several fundamental cellular movements require microtubules – the beating of cilia and flagella, cytoplasmic transport of membrane vesicles, chromosome alignment during meiosis/mitosis, nerve-cell axon migration, etc. These movements all result from a balance and dynamic competition between both the...