AffiAB® Anti-Transferrin Receptor 2 Antibody [JG58-34]

Iron is a vital molecule for living organisms because it is involved in a wide variety of metabolic processes, such as oxygen transport, DNA synthesis and electron transport. Excessive iron uptake leads to tissue damage as a result of formation of free radicals. Iron uptake and storage is tightly regulated by the feedback system of iron responsive element-containing gene products and iron regulatory proteins that modulate the expression levels of the genes involved in iron metabolism. The transferrin receptor 2 (TFR2) mediates the uptake of transferrin-bound iron. It is involved in iron metabolism, hepatocyte function and erythrocyte differentiation, and is highly expressed as a protein in liver as well as in hepatocytes and erythroid precursors. The gene encoding human TRF2 maps to chromosome 7q22 and is expressed as an a isoform, which encodes a transmembrane protein, and a b isoform, which encodes a shorter, intracellular protein. Mutations in the TFR2 gene result in hereditary hemochromatosis type III (HFE3) , an iron overloading disorder that results in clinical complications, including cirrhosis, cardiopathy, diabetes, endocrine dysfunctions, arthropathy and susceptibility to liver cancer.