Anti-MSX2: Rabbit MSX2 Antibody

BACKGROUND Homeobox genes are important during embryonic development, where they function to control cell fate and positioning, thereby regulating the morphological development of several organs, including skeletal structures, the heart, teeth, eyes and mammary glands. The homeobox family of transcription factors was originally isolated from Drosophila and contains a common 61-amino acid domain, known as the homeodomain, which can directly bind DNA and regulate gene transcription. Msx2 is a member of the vertebrate homologues of the Drososophila muscle-segment homeobox gene family (msh/Msx). The mammalian Msx gene family consists of 3 physically unlinked members, named Msx1, Msx2, and Msx3. Msx3 is only expressed in the dorsal neural tube, in a pattern resembling that of the prototypical Drosophila msh gene. However, in developing vertebrate embryos, Msx1 and Msx2 are widely expressed in many organs; particularly at the sites where epithelial-mesenchymal interactions take place. Most notably, Msx1 and Msx2 are strongly expressed in the developing craniofacial regions in an overlapping manner to some extent, indicating a role for Msx genes in craniofacial development.¹

Msx2 is a major regulator of developmental pathways during embryogenesis of different organs including craniofacial structures, limb, neural tube and mammary gland. In all these different tissues, Msx2 is expressed at the sites of epithelial-mesenchymal inductive interactions mediating the signaling between the two different tissues. In the mammary gland, Msx2 expression is hormonally regulated and promotes early branching morphogenesis of the mammary epithelium.² Mutations in the muscle segment homeobox 2 (Msx2) homeodomain which cause loss or gain of Msx2 DNA binding activity can both result in cranial defects. Msx2 function can also be affected by subcellular localization and protein-protein interactions. Homeobox genes, when deregulated, can contribute to carcinogenesis and Msx genes may be deregulated in many types of epithelial cancers such as mammary carcinomas. MSX2 has been implicated to have a role in breast and pancreatic cancer. Studies showed that increased Msx2 results in improved outcome for breast cancer patients, possibly by increasing the likelihood of tumor cell death by apoptosis. Moreover, it was shown that MSX2 may be an important regulator of melanoma cell invasion and survival. Cytoplasmic expression of the protein was identified as biomarker for good prognosis in malignant melanoma patients.³
 

REFERENCES