Human Cytokeratin 18 Antibody

Cytokeratin 18; also KRT-18 (Keratin, type I cytoskeletal 18), Cell proliferation-inducing gene 46 and Keratin-18) is a 44-46 kDa Class I (large keratins of acidic pH) member of the intermediate filament family of proteins. Individual keratins are always expressed in tandem with a second keratin, and these are found in all epithelial cells. The class I Cytokeratin 18 heterodimerizes/polymerizes with 50-52 kDa class II KRT-8 to form 8-10 nm filaments in single strata plus hepatic epithelia. Cytokeratin 18 and -8 are the first keratins to appear in the mammalian embyro. In the adult, Cytokeratin 18 appears to participate in subtractions and additions to the plasma membrane. In this regard, a number of intracellular proteins interact with Cytokeratin 18, including 14-3-3, HSPc70 and Mrj. Cytokeratin 18 may also be O‑glycosylated, and when so, serves to promote Akt-1 activity, thus protecting against apoptosis. Human Cytokeratin 18 is 430 amino acids (aa) in length. It contains an N-terminal "head" region (aa 1-79), a subsequent "rod" region (aa 80-387) with two coiled segments, and a C-terminal tail region. Cytokeratin 18 possesses at least 19 utilized phosphorylation sites plus five acetylated Lys residues. There are multiple isoforms that range from 20-40 kDa in size and are the result of caspase cleavage. A principal cleavage site occurs after Asp238. Over aa 239-397, human Cytokeratin 18 shares 86% aa sequence identity with mouse Cytokeratin 18.