Recombinant Human Procalcitonin Protein, CF

Recombinant Human Procalcitonin Protein, CF Summary

Product Specifications

Product Datasheets

Carrier Free

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.

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: Procalcitonin

Procalcitonin (PCT) is encoded by a single CALCA gene, and can result in 2 alternatively spliced products: calcitonin and calcitonin-gene related peptide (CGRP) (1). Mature PCT is expressed as a 116 amino acid (aa) protein which is subsequently cleaved into 3 parts: a 57 aa pro-region, a 32 aa Calcitonin peptide and a 21 aa Katacalcin peptide (2, 3). PCT is moderately conserved among species, with human sharing 72% and 75% sequence identity with mouse and rat, respectively. In healthy adults, PCT is expressed by thyroid C cells and promptly converted to calcitonin (3). Calcitonin is directly involved in osteoclast activity and bone resorption (4). However, in states of inflammatory disease or bacterial infection, PCT is over-expressed from multiple cell types and the levels of unprocessed PCT rise significantly (3-5). These increased levels of PCT in circulation have been used as a diagnostic marker of systemic bacterial infection and sepsis and as a guide to antibiotic therapy (5, 6). More recently, the use of PCT as a disease marker has been expanded to include acute heart failure and vasculitic disorders (7, 8).