Anti-CD3 epsilon, clone rC3e/6967

1 mg/ml in 1X PBS, BSA free, sodium azide free. Recognizes the epsilon-chain of CD3, which consists of five different polypeptide chains (designated as gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta, and eta) with MW ranging from 16-28kDa. The CD3 complex is closely associated at the lymphocyte cell surface with the T cell antigen receptor (TCR). Reportedly, CD3 complex is involved in signal transduction to the T cell interior following antigen recognition. The CD3 antigen is first detectable in early thymocytes and probably represents one of the earliest signs of commitment to the T cell lineage. In cortical thymocytes, CD3 is predominantly intra-cytoplasmic. However, in medullary thymocytes, it appears on the T cell surface. CD3 antigen is a highly specific marker for T cells, and is present in majority of T cell neoplasms. Protein function: Part of the TCR-CD3 complex present on T-lymphocyte cell surface that plays an essential role in adaptive immune response. When antigen presenting cells (APCs) activate T-cell receptor (TCR), TCR- mediated signals are transmitted across the cell membrane by the CD3 chains CD3D, CD3E, CD3G and CD3Z. All CD3 chains contain immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motifs (ITAMs) in their cytoplasmic domain. Upon TCR engagement, these motifs become phosphorylated by Src family protein tyrosine kinases LCK and FYN, resulting in the activation of downstream signaling pathways (PubMed:2470098). In addition of this role of signal transduction in T-cell activation, CD3E plays an essential role in correct T-cell development. Initiates the TCR-CD3 complex assembly by forming the two heterodimers CD3D/CD3E and CD3G/CD3E. Participates also in internalization and cell surface down- regulation of TCR-CD3 complexes via endocytosis sequences present in CD3E cytosolic region (PubMed:10384095, PubMed:26507128). [The UniProt Consortium]