Anti-Mucin 4 MUC4 Antibody

Mucin-4; MUC-4; Ascites sialoglycoprotein; ASGP; Pancreatic adenocarcinoma mucin; Testis mucin; Tracheobronchial mucin; Mucin-4 alpha chain; Ascites sialoglycoprotein 1; ASGP-1; Mucin-4 beta chain; Ascites sialoglycoprotein 2; ASGP-2; MUC4

Expressed in the thymus, thyroid, lung, trachea, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, colon, testis, prostate, ovary, uterus, placenta, and mammary and salivary glands. Expressed in carcinomas arising from some of these epithelia, such as lung cancers, squamous cell carcinomas of the upper aerodigestive tract, mammary carcinomas, biliary tract, colon, and cervix cancers. Minimally or not expressed in the normal pancreas or chronic pancreatitis, but is highly expressed in pancreatic tumors and pancreatic tumor cell lines.

The antibody was affinity-purified from rabbit antiserum by affinity-chromatography using epitope-specific immunogen and the purity is > 95% (by SDS-PAGE) .

May play a role in tumor progression. Ability to promote tumor growth may be mainly due to repression of apoptosis as opposed to proliferation. Has anti-adhesive properties. Seems to alter cellular behavior through both anti-adhesive effects on cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix interactions and in its ability to act as an intramembrane ligand for ERBB2. Plays an important role in cell proliferation and differentiation of epithelial cells by inducing specific phosphorylation of ERBB2. The MUC4-ERBB2 complex causes site-specific phosphorylation of the ERBB2 'Tyr-1248'. In polarized epithelial cells segregates ERBB2 and other ERBB receptors and prevents ERBB2 from acting as a coreceptor. The interaction with ERBB2 leads to enhanced expression of CDKN1B. The formation of a MUC4-ERBB2-ERBB3-NRG1 complex leads to down-regulation of CDKN1B, resulting in repression of apoptosis and stimulation of proliferation.