Anti-Integrin alpha 6/ITGA6 Antibody Picoband® Fluoro488 Conjugated

Integrin alpha-6, also called VLA-6 or ITGA6B is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ITGA6 gene. This gene is mapped to 2q31.1. The ITGA6 protein product is the integrin alpha chain alpha 6. Integrins are integral cell-surface proteins composed of an alpha chain and a beta chain. A given chain may combine with multiple partners resulting in different integrins. For example, alpha 6 may combine with beta 4 in the integrin referred to as TSP180, or with beta 1 in the integrin VLA-6. Integrins are known to participate in cell adhesion as well as cell-surface mediated signalling. Integrin alpha-6/beta-1 is a receptor for laminin on platelets. Integrin alpha-6/beta-4 is a receptor for laminin in epithelial cells and it plays a critical structural role in the hemidesmosome.

Integrin alpha-6/beta-4 is predominantly expressed by epithelia. Isoforms containing segment X1 are ubiquitously expressed. Isoforms containing segment X1X2 are expressed in heart, kidney, placenta, colon, duodenum, myoblasts and myotubes, and in a limited number of cell lines; they are always coexpressed with the ubiquitous isoform containing segment X1. In some tissues (e.g. Salivary gland), isoforms containing cytoplasmic segment A and isoforms containing segment B are detected while in others, only isoforms containing one cytoplasmic segment are found (segment A in epidermis and segment B in kidney) .

Integrin alpha-6/beta-1 (ITGA6:ITGB1) is a receptor for laminin on platelets. Integrin alpha-6/beta-1 (ITGA6:ITGB1) is present in oocytes and is involved in sperm-egg fusion. Integrin alpha-6/beta-4 (ITGA6:ITGB4) is a receptor for laminin in epithelial cells and it plays a critical structural role in the hemidesmosome. ITGA6:ITGB4 binds to NRG1 (via EGF domain) and this binding is essential for NRG1-ERBB signaling. ITGA6:ITGB4 binds to IGF1 and this binding is essential for IGF1 signaling. ITGA6:ITGB4 binds to IGF2 and this binding is essential for IGF2 signaling.

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