Mouse CCL17/TARC Alexa Fluor™ Plus 488-conjugated Antibody

Human thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC) also known as CCL17, is a novel CC chemokine identified using a signal sequence trap method. Mouse TARC was discovered as a dendritic cell (DC) specific gene by differentiation RNA display. Mouse TARC cDNA encodes a highly basic 93 amino acid (aa) residue precursor protein with a 23 aa residue putative signal peptide that is cleaved to generate the 70 aa residue mature secreted protein. Among CC chemokine family members, TARC has approximately 24 - 29% amino acid sequence identity with RANTES, MIP-1 alpha, MIP-1 beta, MCP-1, MCP-2, MCP-3 and I-309. The gene for human TARC has been mapped to chromosome 16q13 rather than chromosome 17 where the genes for many human CC chemokines are clustered. Mouse TARC is constitutively expressed in thymic DC, and at a lower level in lymph node DC in the lung. Recombinant TARC has been shown to be chemotactic for T cell lines and antigen-primed T helper cells. In humans, TARC was identified to be a specific functional ligand for CCR-4 and CCR-8, receptors that are selectively expressed on T cells.