Description
Product Characteristics:
Cytokeratins are a subfamily of intermediate filament proteins and are characterized by a remarkable biochemical diversity, represented in human epithelial tissues by at least 20 different polypeptides. They range in molecular weight between 40 kDa and 68 kDa and isoelectric pH between 4.9 7.8. The individual human cytokeratins are designated 1 to 20. The various epithelia in the human body usually express cytokeratins which are not only characteristic of the type of epithelium, but also related to the degree of maturation or differentiation within an epithelium. Cytokeratin subtype expression patterns are used to an increasing extent in the distinction of different types of epithelial malignancies. The cytokeratin are not only of assistance in the differential diagnosis of tumors using immunohistochemistry on tissue sections, but are also a useful tool in cytopathology and flow cytometric assays.
Subcellular location: Cytoplasm
Synonyms: K7, Krt2-7, D15Wsu77e, Keratin, type II cytoskeletal 7, Cytokeratin-7, CK-7, Keratin-7, Type-II keratin Kb7, Krt7
Target Information: The protein encoded by this gene is a member of the keratin gene family. The type II cytokeratins consist of basic or neutral proteins which are arranged in pairs of heterotypic keratin chains coexpressed during differentiation of simple and stratified epithelial tissues. This type II cytokeratin is specifically expressed in the simple epithelia lining the cavities of the internal organs and in the gland ducts and blood vessels. The genes encoding the type II cytokeratins are clustered in a region of chromosome 12q12-q13. Alternative splicing may result in several transcript variants\, however, not all variants have been fully described. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]