Description: The UC10-4B9 monoclonal antibody reacts with mouse CD152, also known as the cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4). CTLA-4, a protein with structural similarities to CD28, is expressed on activated T cells at low level and binds the B7 family members, CD80 (B7-1) and CD86 (B7-2), with higher affinity than CD28 does. CTLA-4 and CD28 appear to deliver opposing signals to T cells: while CD28 is a potent costimulator, CTLA-4 restricts the progression of T cells to an activated state by inhibiting IL-2 secretion and cellular proliferation. The cytoplasmic portion of CTLA-4 contains ER retention motifs, resulting in a large proportion of newly synthesized CTLA-4 in response to TCR signaling to be localized intracellularly.
Furthermore, due to the intracellular localization of a large portion of CTLA-4, for complete detection it may be necessary to assess intracellular expression, in addition to surface expression of CTLA-4.