Anti-Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein antibodies are used for the immunodetection of the protein encoded by the GFAP gene. In humans, the canonical protein has a reported length of 432 amino acid residues and a mass of 49.9 kDa. Its subcellular localization is in the cytoplasm. Alternative splicing is reported to yield 3 different isoforms for this protein. It is reported to be expressed in cells lacking fibronectin. A member of the Intermediate filament protein family, it is known to be involved with Bergmann glial cell differentiation and extracellular matrix organization. Post-translational modifications have been described, including phosphorylation.
The glial fibrillary acidic protein marker can be used to characterize Brain Astrocytes and Quiescent Hepatic Stellate Cells.* Other names for this target antigen include ALXDRD. Gene orthologs have been identified in the mouse, rat, bovine, zebrafish, chimpanzee and chicken species. Over 7000 citations in the literature describe the use of Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein antibodies in research. Western Blot is a widely used application for these antibodies. Immunofluorescence and Immunohistochemistry are also common applications.
*HuBMAP Human Reference Atlas v1.4