pan Cytokeratin Recombinant Mouse Monoclonal Antibody [PD00-15]

Cytokeratins comprise a diverse group of intermediate filament proteins (IFPs) that are expressed as pairs in both keratinized and non-keratinized epithelial tissue. Cytokeratins play a critical role in differentiation and tissue specialization and function to maintain the overall structural integrity of epithelial cells. Cytokeratins have been found to be useful markers of tissue differentiation which is directly applicable to the characterization of malignant tumors. For example, cytokeratins 10 and 13 are expressed highly in a subset of squamous cell carcinomas while cytokeratin 18 is expressed in a majority of adenocarcinomas and basal cell carcinomas. Since each epithelium contains at least one acidic and one basic keratin, this antibody is used to observe the distribution of keratin-containing cells in normal epithelia and to identify neoplasms derived from such epithelium. Recognizes human cytokeratins 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13, and 18.