Merck, MAB5374, Anti-Huntingtin Protein Antibody, clone mEM48

Huntington disease (HD) is a hereditary, progressive, neurodegenerative ailment characterized by personality changes, motor impairment and subcortical dementia. The molecular basis of the disease involves the expansion of the trinucleotide CAG, coding for polyglutamine in the first exon of a chromosome four gene (4p16.3), which normally produces a widely expressed 3136 a.a. (~350 kDa) protein huntingtin with unclear function. The protein is found in the perinuclear region along with microtubules, and in the centrosomal region along with gamma-tubulin. Huntingtin is necessary for neuronal survival and is involved in synaptic vesicle trafficking, microtubule binding and may also have a role in apoptosis. In the HD condition, neuronal cells with the mutant form of huntingtin possess intranuclear aggregations of the N-terminal fragment, causing damaging inclusions in perinuclear locations and striatal neuron cell death. Wild-type huntington and anti-huntingtin reduce aggregation and cellular toxicity of the mutant huntingtin form in mammalian cell models of HD. Huntingtin is known to interact with GAPDH, HAP-1, SP1 and TAFII130.