Invitrogen™ Phospho-Tau (Ser262) Polyclonal Antibody

Description

The antibody has been negatively preadsorbed using a non-phosphopeptide corresponding to the site of phosphorylation to remove antibody that is reactive with non-phosphorylated Tau. The final product is generated by affinity chromatography using a Tau-derived peptide that is phosphorylated at serine 262. Positive control used: Recombinant human Tau +/- PKA, or African green monkey kidney (CV-1) cells, stably expressing human four repeat Tau and SV40 small T antigen to induce specific inhibition of PP2A.

Tau is a neuronal microtubule-associated protein found predominantly on axons. The function of Tau is to promote tubulin polymerization and stabilize microtubules. The C-terminus binds axonal microtubules while the N- terminus binds neural plasma membrane components, suggesting that tau functions as a linker protein between both. Axonal polarity is predetermined by TAU/MAPT localization (in the neuronal cell) in the domain of the cell body defined by the centrosome. The short isoforms allow plasticity of the cytoskeleton while the longer isoforms may preferentially play a role in its stabilization. In its hyper-phosphorylated form, Tau is the major component of paired helical filaments (PHF), the building block of neurofibrillary lesions in Alzheimer's diseases (AD) brain. Hyper-phosphorylation impairs the microtubule binding function of Tau, resulting in the destabilization of microtubules in AD brains, ultimately leading to the degeneration of the affected neurons. Numerous serine/threonine kinases phosphorylate Tau, including GSK-3beta, protein kinase A (PKA), cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (cdk5) and casein kinase II. Hyper-phosphorylated Tau is found in neurofibrillary lesions in a range and other central nervous system disorders such as Pick's disease, frontotemporal dementia, cortico-basal degeneration and progressive supranuclear palsy.