Monoclonal Antibodies: CENP-E

Topics in This Section

Antibodies against Human CENP-E

Dr. Tim Yen and colleagues at Fox Chase Cancer Center have identified and characterized a novel human centromere-associated protein, CENP-E, a kinesin-like protein that localizes specifically to kinectochores where it plays a critical role in establishing the microtubule attachments between the chromosomes and the spindle. Functional studies have shown that injections of CENP-E antibodies into HeLa cells did not interfere with the progression of the cells into mitosis, but rather, arrested the cells in mitosis as they failed to align their chromosomes at the spindle equator. All cells arrested in mitosis by CENP-E antibodies eventually died by apoptosis. Thus, CENP-E is essential for the completion of mitosis, though it is not vital for the progression of cells into mitosis.

Additionally, CENP-E and its motor domain provide functions that are important in maintaining stable kinetochore-microtubule connections that allow chromosomes to establish bipolar connections and to align at the spindle equator.

ApplicationsWB, IP, and IF
Immunogen:Recombinant CENP-E protein (human)
Citation:*Yen TJ, Compton DA, et al. "CENP-E, a novel human centromere-associated protein required for progression from metaphase to anaphase," EMBO J. 1991 May;10(5):1245-54. [PMID: 2022189]
*Yen TJ, Li G, et al. "CENP-E is a putative kinetochore motor that accumulates just before mitosis," Nature, 1992 Oct;359(6395):536-9 [PMID: 1406971]
*Schaar BT, Chan GK, et al. "CENP-E function at kinetochores is essential for chromosome alignment," J Cell Biol., 1997 Dec;139(6):1373-82 [PMID: 9396744]
*Chan GK, Schaar BT, et al. "Characterization of the kinetochore binding domain of CENP-E reveals interactions with the kinetochore proteins CENP-F and hBUBR1," J Cell Biol., 1998 Oct;143(1):49-63 [PMID: 9763420]