Anti-CD44 (HCAM), clone SPM521

1 mg/ml in sterile PBS, BSA free, sodium azide free. CD44 participates in a wide variety of cellular functions including lymphocyte activation, recirculation and homing, hematopoiesis, and tumor metastasis. Variations in CD44 are reported as cell surface markers for some breast and prostate cancer stem cells. In breast cancer research CD44+/CD24- expression is commonly used as a marker for breast CSCs and is used to sort breast cancer cells into a population enriched in cells with stem-like characteristics and has been seen as an indicator of increased survival time in epithelial ovarian cancer patients. [Wiki] Protein function: Receptor for hyaluronic acid (HA). Mediates cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions through its affinity for HA, and possibly also through its affinity for other ligands such as osteopontin, collagens, and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Adhesion with HA plays an important role in cell migration, tumor growth and progression. In cancer cells, may play an important role in invadopodia formation. Also involved in lymphocyte activation, recirculation and homing, and in hematopoiesis. Altered expression or dysfunction causes numerous pathogenic phenotypes. Great protein heterogeneity due to numerous alternative splicing and post-translational modification events. Receptor for LGALS9, the interaction enhances binding of SMAD3 to the FOXP3 promoter, leading to up-regulation of FOXP3 expression and increased induced regulatory T (iTreg) cell stability and suppressive function. [The UniProt Consortium]