A synthetic peptide sequence common to Type II Cytokeratins was used as the immunogen for the recombinant Basic Cytokeratin antibody.
The keratins are the typical intermediate filament proteins of epithelia, showing an outstanding degree of molecular diversity. Heteropolymeric filaments are formed by pairing of type I and type II molecules. In humans 54 functional keratin genes exist. They are expressed in highly specific patterns related to the epithelial type and stage of cellular differentiation. This antibody can detect high molecular weight CK1, CK2, CK3, CK4, CK5, CK6, CK7 and CK8. It is usually used in a cytokeratin cocktail with type I cytokeratins antibody.
