This antibody is designed, produced, and validated as part of a collaboration between Rockland and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and is suitable for Cancer, Immunology and Nuclear Signaling research. ECT2, also known as epithelial cell transforming sequence 2 oncogene, was originally isolated as a transforming gene from epithelial cells. ECT2 catalyzes guanine nucleotide exchange on the small GTPases, RhoA, Rac1, and Cdc42. ECT2 may be phos-phorylated during G2 and M phases, and phosphorylation may be required for its exchange activity. Unlike other known guanine nucleotide exchange factors for Rho GTPases, ECT2 exhibits nuclear localization in interphase, spreads throughout the cytoplasm in prometaphase, and is condensed in the midbody during cytokinesis. Expression of dominant-negative ECT2 or microinjection of affinity-purified anti-ECT2 antibody into interphase cells strongly inhibits cytokinesis. These results suggest that ECT2 is an important link between the cell cycle machinery and Rho signaling pathways involved in the regulation of cell division. Phosphorylation at T790 or S375 significantly affects the catalytic activity of ECT2.
This affinity purified antibody was prepared from whole rabbit serum produced by repeated immunizations with a synthetic peptide corresponding to amino acids 785-795 of human ECT2 protein.