Anti-CD24A monoclonal antibody, clone ZCN 6.21.5 [FITC]

Expression of the mouse heat stable antigen (HSA or mouse CD24) shows tissue-specific as well as developmental regulation. During the maturation of several hematopoietic lineages, HSA expression is generally high in immature precursor cells and low or absent in terminally differentiated cells. We present evidence suggesting that this regulation of the HSA gene (Cd24a) occurs at the transcriptional level. In addition, sequence and methylation analysis of the Cd24a promoter revealed characteristics of both ''housekeeping'' and tissue-specific promoters, including a methylation-free, HpaII tiny fragment (HTF) island, multiple putative SP1 and AP-2 consensus binding sites, and a TATA box. Functional analysis of a 0.6-kilobase DNA fragment containing these elements fused to the CAT reporter gene in transient transfection experiments showed activity in both HSA expressing and non-expressing cell lines with a strength similar to that of the herpes-simplex virus-thymidine kinase promoter. Large fragments from the flanking region of the Cd24a promoter did not influence the ubiquitous nature of this promoter. Finally, we mapped the Cd24a, Cd24b, and Cd24c genes to mouse chromosomes 10, 8, and 14 respectively.

Mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells remain pluripotent in vitro when grown in the presence of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) cytokine. LIF starvation leads to cell commitment, and part of the ES-derived differentiated cells die by apoptosis together with caspase3-cleavage and p38 alpha activation. Inhibition of p38 activity by chemical compounds (PD169316 and SB203580), along with LIF withdrawal, leads to different outcomes on cell apoptosis, giving the opportunity to study the influence of apoptosis on cell differentiation. By gene profiling studies on ES-derived differentiated cells treated or not with these inhibitors, we have characterized the common and specific set of genes modulated by each inhibitor. We have also identified key genes that might account for their different survival effects. In addition, we have demonstrated that some genes, similarly regulated by both inhibitors (upregulated as Bcl2, Id2, Cd24a or downregulated as Nodal), are bona fide p38a targets involved in neurogenesis and found a correlation with their expression profiles and the onset of neuronal differentiation triggered upon retinoic acid treatment. We also showed, in an embryoid body differentiation protocol, that overexpression of EGFP (enhanced green fluorescent protein)-BCL2 fusion protein and repression of p38a are essential to increase formation of TUJ1-positive neuronal cell networks along with an increase in Map2-expressing cells.