Using antibodies against P2Y and P2X receptors in purinergic signaling research

• Published in: Purinergic signalling Vol. 8; no. Suppl 1; pp. 61 - 79
• Main Authors: Brass, Dovrat, Grably, Melanie R., Bronstein-Sitton, Noemi, Gohar, Ofra, Meir, Alon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.02.2012
• Subjects: Antibodies; Apoptosis; ATP; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Calcium (intracellular); Cancer; Cancer Research; cation channels; Cell migration; Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; Flow cytometry; G protein-coupled receptors; Gene expression; Human Physiology; Immunohistochemistry; Immunoprecipitation; Inflammatory diseases; Neuromodulation; Neurosciences; Nucleotides; Original; Original Article; Pharmacology/Toxicology; Purine P2X receptors; Purine P2Y receptors; Signal transduction; Synaptic transmission; Vasodilation; Western blotting; G protein-coupled receptors; Antibodies; P2Y receptors; Ion channels; Purinoceptors; P2X receptors; Purinergic signaling
• ISSN: 1573-9538; 1573-9546
• DOI: 10.1007/s11302-011-9278-z

The broad expression pattern of the G protein-coupled P2Y receptors has demonstrated that these receptors are fundamental determinants in many physiological responses, including neuromodulation, vasodilation, inflammation, and cell migration. P2Y receptors couple either G q or G i upon activation, thereby activating different signaling pathways. Ionotropic ATP (P2X) receptors bind extracellular nucleotides, a signal which is transduced within the P2X protein complex into a cation channel opening, which usually leads to intracellular calcium concentration elevation. As such, this family of proteins initiates or shapes several cellular processes including synaptic transmission, gene expression, proliferation, migration, and apoptosis. The ever-growing range of applications for antibodies in the last 30 years attests to their major role in medicine and biological research. Antibodies have been used as therapeutic tools in cancer and inflammatory diseases, as diagnostic reagents (flow cytometry, ELISA, and immunohistochemistry, to name a few applications), and in widespread use in biological research, including Western blot, immunoprecipitation, and ELISPOT. In this article, we will showcase several of the advances that scientists around the world have achieved using the line of antibodies developed at Alomone Labs for P2Y and P2X receptors.