Mouse Monoclonal Antibody to β-tubulin Cat# MCA-1B12

      Tubulins are a major class of cytoskeletal proteins and divided into five distinct classes, namely α, β, γ, δ and ε. The most abundant members of this family are the α and β-tubulins which are the major components of cytoplasmic microtubules. The various subunits have molecular weights of approximately 50kDa and are 50% identical to one another at the protein sequence level. Microtubules are assembled from stable dimers of one α and one β subunit, and regulated polymerization and depolymerization of these dimers controls the number and location of microtubules in cells (1,2). Microtubules are involved in a number of essential cellular functions including the maintenance of cell shape, vesicle and organelle transport, cell motility, cell signaling, meiosis and mitosis. The important role of microtubules in forming the mitotic spindle during cell division makes them a desirable target for the development of therapeutic agents directed against rapidly dividing cancer cells (3). For example, Taxol, a.k.a. Paclitaxel, is a low molecular weight drug which binds αβ tubulin dimers and prevents their polymerization. This prevents formation of the mitotic spindle, inhibits cell division and so halts tumor growth. For an interesting review of the first 50 years of tubulin research see reference 4.

      This antibody has been tested on formalin fixed and paraffin embedded samples for IHC, and is not recommended for this purpose. We supply an alternate mouse monoclonal antibody to β-tubulin, MCA-4E4 which does work well for IHC.