Description
Product Characteristics: The antibody reacts with a 19kDa glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) linked glycoprotein expressed on haematopoietic and non-haematopoietic cells. CD59 is expressed, like CD55, in erythrocytes. Recognizes a carbohydrate antigen present on a subset of peripheral blood mononuclear cells involved in the natural killer activity, which is not MHC restricted. The antigen is not present on B cells, monocytes, red blood cells or platelets but is expressed on cells in neuroectodermal tissue. It reacts with 20% of normal human peripheral blood mononuclear cells.
Target Information: This gene encodes a cell surface glycoprotein that regulates complement-mediated cell lysis, and it is involved in lymphocyte signal transduction. This protein is a potent inhibitor of the complement membrane attack complex, whereby it binds complement C8 and/or C9 during the assembly of this complex, thereby inhibiting the incorporation of multiple copies of C9 into the complex, which is necessary for osmolytic pore formation. This protein also plays a role in signal transduction pathways in the activation of T cells. Mutations in this gene cause CD59 deficiency, a disease resulting in hemolytic anemia and thrombosis, and which causes cerebral infarction. Multiple alternatively spliced transcript variants, which encode the same protein, have been identified for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]