Description
Vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1), also known as CD106, is a cell surface sialoglycoprotein belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily. Two forms of VCAM-1 with either six or seven extracellular Ig-like domains are generated by alternative splicing, with the longer form predominant. VCAM-1 is an endothelial ligand for very late antigen-4 (VLA-4) and α4ß7 integrin expressed on leukocytes, and thus mediates leukocyte-endothelial cell adhesion and signal transduction. VCAM-1 expression is induced on endothelial cells during inflammatory bowel disease, atherosclerosis, allograft rejection, infection, and asthmatic responses. During these responses, VCAM-1 forms a scaffold for leukocyte migration. VCAM-1 also activates signals within endothelial cells resulting in the opening of an "endothelial cell gate" through which leukocytes migrate. VCAM-1 has been identified as a potential anti-inflammatory therapeutic target, the hypothesis being that reduced expression of VCAM-1 will slow the development of atherosclerosis. In addition, VCAM-1-activated signals in endothelial cells are regulated by cytokines indicating that it is important to consider both endothelial cell adhesion molecule expression and function during inflammatory processes.
Form
Lyophilized from sterile PBS, pH 7.4, 5 % trehalose, 5% mannitol and 0.01% Tween80.
Molecular Mass
The recombinant human VCAM1 consists of 689 amino acids and predicts a molecular mass of 76 kDa. As a result of glycosylation, rhVCAM1 migrates as an approximately 110 kDa band in SDS-PAGE under reducing conditions.
