TIE-2/Fc Chimera, soluble

Recombinant murine soluble TIE-2 was fused with the Fc part of human IgG1. The recombinant mature sTIE-2/Fc is a disulfide-linked homodimeric protein. The sTIE-2/Fc monomers have a mass of approximately 105 kDa. As a result of glycosylation, the recombinant protein migrates as an approximately 140 kDa protein in SDS-PAGE under reducing conditions. The soluble receptor protein consists of the full extracellular domain (Val19-Leu740) . TIE-1 (tyrosine kinase with Ig and EGF homology domains 1) and TIE-2/Tek comprise a receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) subfamily with unique structural characteristics: two immunoglobulin-like domains flanking three epidermal growth factor (EGF) -like domains and followed by three fibronectin type III-like repeats in the extracellular region and a split tyrosine kinase domain in the cytoplasmic region. These receptors are expressed primarily on endothelial and hematopoietic progenitor cells and play critical roles in angiogenesis, vasculogenesis and hematopoiesis. Human TIE-1 cDNA encodes a 1122 amino acid (aa) residue precursor protein with an 18 residue putative signal peptide, a 726 residue extracellular domain and a 353 residue cytoplasmic domain. Two ligands, angiopoietin-1 (Ang1) and angiopoietin-2 (Ang2), which bind TIE-2 with high-affinity have been identified. Ang2 has been reported to act as an antagonist for Ang1. Mice engineered to overexpress Ang2 or to lack Ang1 or Tie-1 display similar angiogenic defects.