anti-Plakophilin 2, mouse monoclonal, clone Pkp2-518

The mab recognizes plakophilin 2 in both locations: in the desmosomal plaque and in the karyoplasm. Plakophilin 2 is a member of the arm-repeat family of proteins which can occur in at least 2 splice forms (2a and 2b). Plakophilin 2 assembles with other proteins to form the desmosomal plaque in simple and glandular epithelia, the basal layer of certain stratified epithelia, all layers of some stratified epithelia, in Merkel cells, and desmosome-possessing nonepithelial cells such as myocardium, Purkinje fibers, and dendritic reticulum of lymph node follicles. In all these cells, including a variety of cell types devoid of desmosomes, plakophilin 2 is highly enriched in the nuclei (karyoplasm). Polypeptide reacting: Plakophilin 2, Mr ~100 kD (SDS-PAGE); MW calculated from aa sequence: 92,750 (pI 9.33) and 97,410 (pI 9.38)Positive staining was obtained with several carcinomas derived from simple-type epithelia (e.g. hepatomas, colon carcinomas) and some adenocarcinomas derived from stratified epithelia (oesophagus carcinoma).Recommendation for immunohistochemistry on frozen sections: For better accessibility of the desmosome-associated antigen frozen sections might be pre-incubated for 5 min in PBS plus 0.2% Triton X-100 prior to antibody application. Longer incubation could result in a loss of Pkp2-nuclear staining. To prevent wash-out of soluble forms of the antigen, fixation with 2% formaldehyde is recommended.