Anti-NKAP (aa 394-415) polyclonal antibody

Invariant NKT (iNKT) cells are a unique lineage with characteristics of both adaptive and innate lymphocytes, and they recognize glycolipids presented by an MHC class I-like CD1d molecule. During thymic development, iNKT cells also differentiate into NKT1, NKT2, and NKT17 functional subsets that preferentially produce cytokines IFN-gamma, IL-4, and IL-17, respectively, upon activation. Newly selected iNKT cells undergo a burst of proliferation, which is defective in mice with a specific deletion of NKAP in the iNKT cell lineage, leading to severe reductions in thymic and peripheral iNKT cell numbers. The decreased cell number is not due to defective homeostasis or increased apoptosis, and it is not rescued by Bcl-xL overexpression. NKAP is also required for differentiation into NKT17 cells, but NKT1 and NKT2 cell development and function are unaffected. This failure in NKT17 development is rescued by transgenic expression of promyelocytic leukemia zinc finger; however, the promyelocytic leukemia zinc finger transgene does not restore iNKT cell numbers or the block in positive selection into the iNKT cell lineage in CD4-cre NKAP conditional knockout mice. Therefore, NKAP regulates multiple steps in iNKT cell development and differentiation.

Na2O-K2O-SiO2-B2O3-Al5O3-P2O5 (NKAP) glasses with low melting temperatures were obtained by melting. NKAP glass/ceramic composite ULTCC (ultralow temperature co-fired ceramic) materials were prepared at sintering temperature (< 700 degrees C) by mixing traditional ceramic materials (alumina, quartz and zirconia) and low melting NKAP glasses. Quartz and monolithic zirconia can form stable composites with low melting NKAP glasses. Thus, we prepared ULTCC composite materials containing high amounts of quartz and zirconia. However, alumina and NKAP glasses partially reacted during sintering. Sintering temperature of NKAP glass/ceramic ULTCC composite was lower than 680 degrees C with the minimum sintering temperature of (similar to)550 degrees C. All samples containing NKAP glass/quartz ULTCC composites demonstrated excellent dielectric permittivity (equal to 6.51 with loss (similar to)8 x 10(-3)) and mechanical bending strength equal to 82 MPa. Our results can be used for fabrication of multilayer ULTCC packaging structures with tailored physical properties.