Connective-Tissue Growth Factor (CTGF/CCN2) Induces Astrogenesis

SOX-2 Proves a Marker For Astrogenesis

This proved  surprising to the authors of a recent publication referencing use of our Monoclonal SOX-2 Antibody. We have added our SOX-2 abs to our Glial-Astrocyte Markers. See: Fabio A. Mendes , Juliana M. Coelho Aguiar , Suzana A. Kahn, Alice H. Reis, Luiz Gustavo Dubois, Luciana Ferreira Romão, Lais S. S. Ferreira, Hervé Chneiweiss, Vivaldo Moura Neto, José G. Abreu. Connective-Tissue Growth Factor (CTGF/CCN2) Induces Astrogenesis and Fibronectin Expression of Embryonic Neural Cells In Vitro. Published: August 4, 2015DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0133689...monoclonal anti-Sox2 (Neuromics, Acris, Germany) in blocking solution were incubated with the membranes overnight at 4°C, followed by incubation with Peroxidase-conjugated anti-rabbit IgG and peroxidase-conjugated anti-mouse IgG secondary antibodies...

Figure: Exogenous CTGF protein increases the number of Sox2-positive cells of a neural progenitor culture. Immunostaining showing Sox2 (A and D) expression of untreated and CTGF-treated cells. C and F show merged pictures of Sox2 immunostaining together with nuclei-DAPI staining. Scale bars 10 μm. G shows the percentage of cells that were positive for Sox2. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0133689.g002

Neuromics have a significant catalog of potent and proven Asytoglial, Neuronal, Schwann Cell and Oligodendrocyte Markers.

SOX that Rocks

Excellent Adult, iPSC and eSC Markers 

Our SOX Markers consistently deliver in helping determine differentiation states of Stem Cells.
Here are some recent pubs referencing use of these important antibodies:

Xiaoling Wang, Yingjia Wang, He Huang, Buyuan Chen, Xinji Chen, Jianda Hu, Tammy Chang, Ren-Jang Lin, Jiing-Kuan Yee Precise Gene Modification Mediated by TALEN and Single-Stranded Oligodeoxynucleotides in Human Cells. Published: April 01, 2014DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0093575... Sox2 (1:100, Neuromics, Minneapolis, MN)...

Megumi Kowno, Kanako Watanabe-Susaki, Hisako Ishimine, Shinji Komazaki, Kei Enomoto, Yasuhiro Seki, Ying Ying Wang, Yohei Ishigaki, Naoto Ninomiya, Taka-aki K. Noguchi, Yuko Kokubu, Keigoh Ohnishi, Yoshiro Nakajima, Kaoru Kato, Atsushi Intoh, Hitomi Takada, Norio Yamakawa, Pi-Chao Wang, Makoto Asashima, Akira Kurisaki. Prohibitin 2 Regulates the Proliferation and Lineage-Specific Differentiation of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells in Mitochondria. Research Article | published 07 Apr 2014 | PLOS ON...Sox17 (Neuromics, GT15094)...

We will continue to update you on new developments with our Stem Cell Markers.

SOX2 and Initiation of Breast Tumors

I consider it a feather in Neuromics' cap when our reagent(s) are referenced in a Nature Journal. More importantly it enables me to keep the pulse on novel and important discovery.

This pub references use of one of our SOX2 Antibody and comes from Dr. Angel García Martín and his Team at INBIOMED: O Leis, A Eguiara, E Lopez-Arribillaga, M J Alberdi, S Hernandez-Garcia, K Elorriaga, A Pandiella, R Rezola and A G Martin. Sox2 expression in breast tumours and activation in breast cancer stem cells. Oncogene , (8 August 2011) | doi:10.1038/onc.2011.338.

The important insight from this study is: "Over-expression of Sox2 increased mammosphere formation, effect dependent on continuous Sox2 expression; furthermore, Sox2 knockdown prevented mammosphere formation and delayed tumour formation in xenograft tumour initiation models. Induction of Sox2 expression was achieved through activation of the distal enhancer of Sox2 promoter upon sphere formation, the same element that controls Sox2 transcription in pluripotent stem cells. These findings suggest that reactivation of Sox2 represents an early step in breast tumour initiation, explaining tumour heterogeneity by placing the tumour-initiating event in any cell along the axis of mammary differentiation."

Could these findings ultimately lead to a better diagnostic for Breast Cancer? I'll keep you posted.

Lab Highlights: Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer in women making up to 20% of all tumours diagnosed in women, with 1 million new cases diagnosed every year worldwide (16,000 new cases only in Spain). Worlwide it causes over 350,000 deaths with an increasing tendency. Breast cancer stem cells show the phenotype CD44+/CD24low/-Lin- though only a fraction of this population has the capacity to initiate tumours. Therefore a complete and precise description of the breast cancer stem cells is lacking.

The focus of this laboratory is to identify, isolate and culture breast cancer stem cells from natural breast tumours and compare at the molecular level with normal mammary stem cells. This research involves the stablishment of both in vitro and in vivo functional assays and the molecular characterization (both genomic and proteomic) of breast cancer stem cells to define the mechanisms responsible for its transformed phenotype.

SOX2 as a Marker for Melanoma

I would like to post a new application for our SOX2 neural progenitor marker.

Alvaro C. Laga, Qian Zhan,Carsten Weishaupt, Jie Ma, Markus H. Frank, George F. Murphy. SOX2 and nestin expression in human melanoma: an immunohistochemical and experimental study. Experimental Dermatology. Volume 20, Issue 4, pages 339–345, April 2011. DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0625.2011.01247.x.

SOX2 is an embryonic neural crest stem-cell transcription factor recently shown to be expressed in human melanoma and to correlate with experimental tumor growth. SOX2 binds to an enhancer region of the gene that encodes for nestin, also a neural progenitor cell biomarker. To define further the potential relationship between SOX2 and nestin, we examined co-expression patterns in 135 melanomas and 37 melanocytic nevi. Immunohistochemical staining in 27 melanoma tissue sections showed an association between SOX2 positivity, spindle cell shape and a peripheral nestin distribution pattern. In contrast, SOX2-negative cells were predominantly epithelioid, and exhibited a cytoplasmic pattern for nestin. In tissue microarrays, co-expression correlated with tumor progression, with only 11% of nevi co-expressing SOX2 and nestin in contrast to 65% of metastatic melanomas, and preliminarily, with clinical outcome. Human melanoma lines that differentially expressed constitutive SOX2 revealed a positive correlation between SOX2 and nestin expression. Experimental melanomas grown from these respective cell lines in murine subcutis and dermis of xenografted human skin maintained the association between SOX2-positivity, spindle cell shape, and peripheral nestin distribution. Moreover, the cytoplasmic pattern of nestin distribution was observed in xenografts generated from SOX2-knockdown A2058 melanoma cells, in contrast to the periperhal nestin pattern seen in tumors grown from A2058 control cells transfected with non-target shRNA. In aggregate, these data further support a biologically significant linkage between SOX2 and nestin expression in human melanoma.

Potent Stem Cell Markers

The potency of our Stem Cell Research Reagents is confirmed by the growng list of publication referencing them.

Here're the latest:

Saishu Yoshida, Takako Kato, Takao Susa, Li-yi Cai, Michie Nakayama, Yukio Kato. PROP1 coexists with SOX2 and induces PIT1-commitment cells. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 385, Issue 1, 17 July 2009, Pages 11-15
... SOX2 (1:500 dilution, Neuromics, Edina, MN, USA)...

Saravanan Karumbayaram, Bennett G. Novitchb, Michaela Patterson, Joy A. Umbach, Laura Richter, Anne Lindgren, Anne E. Conway, Amander T. Clark, Steve A. Goldman, Kathrin Plath, Martina Wiedau-pazos, Harley I. Kornblum, William E. Lowry. Directed Differentiation of Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Generates Active Motor Neurons. Stem Cells Vol. 27 No. 4 April 2009, pp. 806 -811. doi:10.1002.
... mouse anti-Nestin (Neuromics)...

Patrizia Rubini, Javorina Milosevic, Johannes Engelhardt, Mahmoud Al-Khrasani, Heike Franke, Attilla Heinrich, Beata Sperlagh, Sigrid C. Schwarz, Johannes Schwarz, Wolfgang Nörenberg and Peter Illes. Increase of intracellular Ca2+ by adenine and uracil nucleotides in human midbrain-derived neuronal progenitor cells. Cell Calcium. Volume 45, Issue 5, May 2009, Pages 485-498.
...rabbit anti-P2Y2 (1:1000; Neuromics, Edina, MN, USA...