• Purity

  >95%, by SDS-PAGE under reducing conditions and visualized by silver stain

• Endotoxin Level

  <0.10 EU per 1 μg of the protein by the LAL method.  

• Activity

  Measured by its ability to agglutinate human red blood cells. Hadari, Y.R.     et al. (2000) J. Cell Sci.     113:2385. The ED    ₅₀ for this effect is 2-10 μg/mL. Measured by its binding activity in a functional ELISA. Ideo, H.     et al. (2005) J. Biol. Chem.     280:4730. rhGalectin-4 can bind rhCEACAM-5 with an estimated K    _D <4 nM.  

• Source

  E. coli-derived Ala2-Ile323

• Accession #

• N-terminal Sequence    
  Analysis

  Ala2

• Predicted Molecular Mass

  36 kDa

Carrier Free

What does CF mean?

CF stands for Carrier Free (CF). We typically add Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) as a carrier protein to our recombinant proteins. Adding a carrier protein enhances protein stability, increases shelf-life, and allows the recombinant protein to be stored at a more dilute concentration. The carrier free version does not contain BSA.

What formulation is right for me?

In general, we advise purchasing the recombinant protein with BSA for use in cell or tissue culture, or as an ELISA standard. In contrast, the carrier free protein is recommended for applications, in which the presence of BSA could interfere.

Background: Galectin-4

Galectins are a family of carbohydrate-binding proteins with specificity for N-acetyl-lactosamine-containing glycoproteins. At least 14 mammalian galectins share structural similarities in their carbohydrate recognition domains (CRD), forming three groups often termed prototype (one CRD), tandem-repeat (two CRDs) and chimeric (one CRD, unique N-terminus) (1, 2). All lack classical signal peptides, but are present and active both within and outside of the cell. Galectins are involved in cell adhesion, migration, survival and apoptosis, and are often up- or down-regulated in cancer (1 - 3). Galectin-4 is a 36 kDa tandem-repeat galectin found throughout the gastrointestinal tract, but also present in well-differentiated breast and liver carcinomas (3, 4). Each CRD binds a different set of carbohydrate groups, including those found on red cell blood group antigens (3, 5). CRD1 also binds cholesterol 3-sulfate and other sulfatides, which are concentrated within lipid raft membrane microdomains (6, 7). Endocytosed Galectin-4 is thought to play a role in forming the rafts, delivering them to the intestinal apical membrane, and stabilizing highly detergent-resistant "superrafts" (7, 9). Human Galectin-4 shares 76%, 77%, 78% and 80% aa identity with mouse, rat, bovine and porcine Galectin-4, respectively, with the highest identity occurring within the CRDs. A potential splice variant begins at aa 132 and lacks most of the first CRD (10). Galectin-4 expression is concentrated within microvilli in the gastrointestinal epithelium, where it can interact with CD3 and bind activated T cells in the lamina propria during intestinal inflammation (11, 12). Either pro- or anti?inflammatory activity has been shown, depending on the mouse model used. Galectin-4 can also bind lung, spleen and kidney macrophages, although its expression is normally low in these tissues (5).

• References:

1. Yang, R-Y. et al. (2008) Expert Rev. Mol. Med. 10:e17.

2. Elola, M. T. et al. (2007) Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 64:1679.

3. Huflejt, M. E. & H. Leffler (2004) Glycoconj. J. 20:247.

4. Recreche, H. et al. (1997) Eur. J. Biochem. 248:225.

5. Markova, V. et al. (2006) Int. J. Mol. Med. 18:65.

6. Ideo, H. et al. (2007) J. Biol. Chem. 282:21081.

7. Delacour, D. et al. (2005) J. Cell Biol. 169:491.

8. Braccia, A. et al. (2003) J. Biol. Chem. 278:15679.

9. Stechly, L. et al. (2009) Traffic Jan 24 e-pub ahead of print.

10. Entrez Accession # EAW56820.

11. Hokama, A. et al. (2004) Immunity 20:681.

12. Paclik, D. et al. (2008) PloS ONE 3:e2629.

• Entrez Gene IDs:

  3960 (Human); 16855 (Mouse)

• Alternate Names:

  Antigen NY-CO-27; GAL4; gal-4; galectin 4; Galectin4; Galectin-4; L-36 lactose-binding protein; L36LBP; Lactose-binding lectin 4; lectin, galactoside-binding, soluble, 4; LGALS4