CCL21 antibody

Mouse 6Ckine is a beta- or C-C chemokine identified in the Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) database by three independent groups (Hedrick and Zlotnik, Hromas et al, Nagira et al). Known also as Exodus-2 and secondary lymphoid-tissue chemokine (SLC), 6Ckine contains four conserved cysteine (C) residues which are characteristic of beta-chemokines (Hedrick and Zlotnik, Hromas et al, Nagira et al). Two additional conserved cysteine residues have been found in its unusually long carboxy-terminal domain and consequently the name 6Ckine (Hedrick and Zlotnik, Hromas et al, Nagira et al). Human and mouse 6Ckine are highly conserved and show 86% amino acid homology.1 Mouse 6Ckine cDNA encodes a 133 amino acid precursor protein, a 23 amino acid signal peptide and a 110 amino acid mature protein. (Hedrick and Zlotnik). Comparatively, human 6Ckine cDNA encodes a 134 amino acid precursor protein, a 23 amino acid signal peptide and a 111 amino acid mature protein(Hedrick and Zlotnik, Nagira et al). Recombinant mouse 6Ckine has a predicted molecular mass of approximately 12 kDa (mature protein). In SDS-PAGE under reducing and non-reducing conditions, the recombinant protein migrates with an apparent molecular mass of 16 kDa to 17 kDA.The expression of mouse 6Ckine has been detected in high levels in the spleen and lung (Nagira et al). Recombinant mouse 6Ckine is chemotactic in vitro for thymocytes and activated T cells (Hedrick and Zlotnik). Unlike other C-C chemokines, 6Ckine is not chemotactic for monocytes and neutrophils (Hedrick and Zlotnik, Nagira et al). A growing body of work suggests that 6Ckine influences lymphocyte homing to secondary lymphoid organs (Gunn et al), integrin-mediated lymphocyte adhesion (Pachynski et al) and may act via the EBI1 ligand chemokine (ELC) receptor, CCR7 (Willimann et al, Yoshida et al).