Anti-Human CD71 [Clone OKT-9] — Purifiedin vivoGOLD™ Functional Grade,Leinco,C2531

CD71 is a transferrin receptor that mediates cellular proliferation by promoting iron uptake 1,2 . Iron uptake occurs when diferric transferrin binds to CD71 at the cell surface, the transferrin-iron complex is internalized by endocytic vesicles, and the diferric iron is released into the cytoplasm 1,3,4 . CD71 is highly expressed on malignant cells, as iron uptake is necessary for aberrant cell proliferation 5 . Additionally, CD71 is involved in the pathogenesis of clade B New World mammarenaviruses (NWM), which cause the South American hemorrhagic fevers 6 . NWM viruses share a binding site on the apical domain of CD71, and blockade of this site is a research target for producing a broadly neutralizing immunotherapy. OKT-9 was generated by immunizing CAF 1 mice with human T cell leukemia cells (acute lymphoblastic leukemia, T-ALL cells) from donor patients 7,8 . Hybridomas were produced by fusing the resulting splenocytes with P3X63Ag8U1 myeloma cells and screening by indirect immunofluorescence. OKT-9 reactivity was shown to correlate with proliferation status in both normal and malignant cell populations 8 . OKT-9 has been found to target the same apical domain of CD71 as NWM viruses and can sterically block cellular entry of clade B NWM viral particles by blocking the GP1-CD71 interaction 6 . This in turn reduces cellular infection and presents an opportunity for the development of an immunotherapeutic agent capable of broad viral neutralization.