Anti-alpha-2-macroglobulin antibodies are used for the immunodetection of the protein encoded by the A2M gene. In humans, the canonical protein has a reported length of 1474 amino acid residues and a mass of 163.3 kDa. It is known to be a secreted protein. A member of the Protease inhibitor I39 (alpha-2-macroglobulin) protein family, it is known to be involved with stem cell differentiation. Post-translational modifications have been described, including glycosylation.
The alpha-2-macroglobulin marker can be used to characterize Blood Vessel Endothelial Cells.* Other names for this target antigen include CPAMD5, FWP007, S863-7, C3 and PZP-like alpha-2-macroglobulin domain-containing protein 5, alpha-2-M, and A2MD. Gene orthologs have been identified in the mouse, rat and chicken species. A number of alpha-2-MACROGLOBULIN antibodies have been mentioned in research publications and have associated citations. Western Blot is a widely used application for these antibodies. ELISA and Immunohistochemistry are also common applications.
*HuBMAP Human Reference Atlas v1.4