The Immunogen: Vimentin is a protein subunit of 10nm or intermediate filaments, which are major components of the cytoskeleton in most cell types. Vimentin is the major intemediate filament subunit found in mesenchymal cells, and was first named and characterized in a collaborative study from the labs of German scientists Werner Franke and Klaus Weber (1). The name derives from the Latin "Vimentum", meaning arrays of flexible rods such as in lattices, filigrees and wicker-work, which describes the intermediate filament network quite well. Vimentin is also found in many cell types in tissue culture, most notably fibroblasts, and in developing neuronal and astrocytic precursor cells in the central nervous system. Many cell lines such as Hek293, HeLa, 3T3 and Cos cells contain prominent vimentin networks. Vimentin frequently forms copolymers with other intermediate filament proteins, such as GFAP (in astrocytes, ependymal cells and neural stem cells), with desmin (in muscle and endothelial cells) and neurofilament proteins (in developing neurons). A E151K point mutation in the vimentin gene was shown to be causative of an autosomal dominant pulverulent cataract disease, but so far only in a single patient (2). Vimentin is a major protein of eye lens and cornea, and this mutation renders the molecule unable assemble into normal 10nm filaments. Antibodies to vimentin are useful in studies of stem cells and generally to reveal the filamentous cytoskeleton. The immunogen used to generate our antibody was recombinant human vimentin expressed in and purified from E. coli. The same immunogen was used to produce our other monoclonal antibody to vimentin MCA-2D1. We also market a very popular chicken polyclonal antibody to vimentin, CPCA-Vim. The HGNC name for this protein is VIM.

Antibody Characteristics: MCA-2A52 is a mouse IgG1 class antibody with a k light chain. MCA-2A52 is known to react with vimentin from human, cow, pig, mouse, rat and other mammals. Since vimentin is highly conserved, it is likely that the antibody is effective on other species also. Available for shipping now, $200 US per aliquot of 100 microliters of purified antibody at a concentration of 1 mg/ml, enough for hundreds of experiments. For order form press here

Suggestions for use: The antibody solution is affinity purified from tissue culture supernatant and is at concentration of 1mg/ml in phosphate buffered saline preparation containing 10 mM sodium azide preservative (Link to http://www.encorbio.com/MSDS/azide.htm for Material Safety Data Sheet). The antibody solution can be used at dilutions of at least 1:1,000 in immunofluorescence experiments. In western blotting using chemiluminescence it can be used at dilutions of 1:10,000 or lower. Avoid repeated freezing and thawing, store at 4°C or -20°C.

Omim link: press here

References:

1. Franke, W. W., Schmid, E., Osborn, M. and Weber, K. Different intermediate-sized filaments distinguished by immunofluorescence microscopy. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 75:5034–5038 (1978).

2. Muller, M., Bhattacharya, S. S., Moore, T., Prescott, Q., Wedig, T., Herrmann, H., Magin, T. M. Dominant cataract formation in association with a vimentin assembly disrupting mutation. Hum. Molec. Genet. 18:1052-1057 (2009).

Price and Availability: - We currently supply 100 microliter aliquots for $200. Material is in stock and ready for immediate shipping.

Limitations: This product is for research use only and is not approved for use in humans or in clinical diagnosis.

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