BD Transduction Laboratories™ Purified Mouse Anti- CUL-2

The cullins are a family of proteins that are integral to cell cycle regulation.  Members of this family include human Cul-2, C.elegans Ce-Cul-1, and S. cerevisiae Cdc53.  Proper control of cell cycle progression is essential for the prevention of tumorigenesis.  Mutant forms of both Ce-Cul-1 and Cdc53 have been implicated in the oncogenic process.  Abnormal nuclear localization of Cul-2 is seen in a rare hereditary condition known as VHL (von Hippel-Lindau) syndrome.  Patients with VHL syndrome possess a mutant VHL gene and develop cancers such as retinal anginomas, CNS hemangioblastomas, and renal cell carcinomas.  In normal cells, the VHL protein competes with subunit A of elongin, a transcription elongation factor, for binding to subunits B and C.  The formation of the VHL-B-C complex inhibits elongation.  Additional data indicates that this complex associates with CUL-2 and promotes CUL-2 nuclear translocation.  In cells with mutated VHL, transcriptional elongation is not efficiently curtailed and CUL-2 is not properly localized in the nucleus.  Therefore, CUL-2 mediates VHL function, suggesting CUL-2 may be a candidate human tumor suppressor.

This antibody is routinely tested by western blot analysis. Other applications were tested at BD Biosciences Pharmingen during antibody development only or reported in the literature.