MCP-1 (CCL2) ELISA

Formerly sold as BE51101. Chemokines (chemoattractant cytokines) represent a superfamily of small secreted proteins that function as intercellular messengers to control migration and activation of leukocytes involved in inflammatory reactions and immunity . Furthermore, chemokines are important mediators of many pathologies such as allergic responses, chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, tumor growth and hematopoietic development. The CC-chemokine monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), also known as monocyte chemotactic and activating factor (MCAF) was characterized as a monocyte-specific chemoattractant that was later shown to attract also T lymphocytes and NK cells. MCP-1 is mainly expressed by macrophages in response to a wide range of cytokines such as IL-6, TNF-alpha and IL-1 beta, but can, upon stimulation, also be produced by a variety of cells and tissues, such as fibroblasts, endothelial cells or certain tumor cells. Because of its target cell specificity, MCP-1 was postulated to play a pathogenic role in a variety of diseases characterized by mononuclear cell infiltration, including atherosclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and allergic responses. Elevated levels of MCP-1 have also been found in connection with osseus inflammation and Alzheimer's disease (AD) as well as Myocardial Ischemia and viral infections. In acute and chronic-active multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions immunoreactivity for MCP-1 was increased whereas MCP-1 was found to be significantly reduced in cerebrospinal fluids (CSF) and chronic lesions of patients with MS. In basophils, MCP-1 is highly effective as a stimulus of histamine release but has only weak chemotactic activity. Additionally it has been shown to chemoattract CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes, and expression of the MCP-1 chemokine may affect HIV infection via signaling through the CCR2 receptor. Synonyms: CCL2, Monocyte chemotactic and activating factor (MCAF), Monocyte secretory protein JE, HC11