title: Human napsin A: expression, immunochemical detection, and tissue localization.
abstract: A novel aspartic proteinase, called napsin, has recently been found in human and mouse. Due to high similarity with cathepsin D a structural model of human napsin A could be built. Based on this model a potential epitope SFYLNRDPEEPDGGE has been identified, which was used to immunize rabbits. The resulting antibody was employed in monitoring the expression of recombinant human napsin A in HEK293 cell line. Western blot analysis confirmed the specificity of the antibody and showed that human napsin A is expressed as a single chain protein with the molecular weight of approximately 38 kDa. Immunohistochemical studies revealed high expression levels of napsin A in human kidney and lung but low expression in spleen.
authors.affiliation: F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Pharma Division, Preclinical Research, Grenzacherstrasse 124, CH-4070, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Schauer-Vukasinovic
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bur
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kling
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Grüninger
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Giller
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000906:Antibodies / Q000276:immunology; D016282:Aspartic Acid Endopeptidases / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D000939:Epitopes; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007668:Kidney / Q000201:enzymology; D008168:Lung / Q000201:enzymology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D000939:Epitopes; D016282:Aspartic Acid Endopeptidases; C498549:NAPSA protein, human