MERTK Monoclonal Antibody (A3KCAT), eBioscience™, Invitrogen™

Description

• This A3KCAT antibody recognizes human MerTK, known also as MER or c-mer, a 170-210 kDa member of the TAM family of tyrosine kinase receptors that also includes Axl and Tyro3
• MerTK is expressed on a subset of anti-inflammatory macrophages and is involved in the removal of apoptotic cells
• This process relies on two soluble ligands of MerTK, Protein S and Gas6, that coat the surface of cells undergoing apoptosis
• Upon binding these ligands, MerTK undergoes autophosphorylation at multiple tyrosine residues that activate the PI3K and Akt pathways
• This results in the phagocytosis of target cells and also the direct inhibition of TLR-induced production of pro-inflammatory cytokines by the phagocytes
• MerTK may also function as a putative entry receptor for filoviruses
• Deficiency of MerTK causes general autoimmunity, inflammation, and accumulation of apoptotic bodies
• MerTK can be released from the cell surface by metalloproteinases, and this process is significantly enhanced when macrophages are stimulated e.g
• with LPS
• MerTK is often expressed on maligt cells, and may be implicated in immune evasion
• This A3KCAT antibody has been tested by immunohistochemistry of formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissue using low or high pH antigen retrieval and can be used at less than or equal to 0.5 μg/mL
• It is recommended that the antibody be carefully titrated for optimal performance in the assay of interest
• Purity: Greater than 90%, as determined by SDS-PAGE
• MERTK (cMER) is a tyrosine kinase proto-oncogene and is involved in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) phagocytosis pathway, which is implicated in human retinal disease
• Regulates many physiological processes including cell survival, migration, differentiation, and phagocytosis of apoptotic cells (efferocytosis)
• Ligand binding at the cell surface induces autophosphorylation of MERTK on its intracellular domain that provides docking sites for downstream signaling molecules
• Following activation by ligand, interacts with GRB2 or PLCG2 and induces phosphorylation of MAPK1, MAPK2, FAK/PTK2 or RAC1
• MERTK signaling plays a role in various processes such as macrophage clearance of apoptotic cells, platelet aggregation, cytoskeleton reorganization and engulfment
• Functions in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) as a regulator of rod outer segments fragments phagocytosis
• Plays also an important role in inhibition of Toll-like receptors (TLRs)-mediated innate immune response by activating STAT1, which selectively induces production of suppressors of cytokine signaling SOCS1 and SOCS3.