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Tenascin C

Analyte: Tenascin C
Specimen Type: EDTA Plasma
Optimum Volume: 0.5 mL
Reporting Units: ng/mL
Method: ELISA
2-8°C 4 days
-20°C 21 days
-70°C 2 years

Biological or Clinical Significance:

Tenascin-C is an extracellular matrix glycoprotein that is composed of 210-400 kDa subunits consisting of four domains.  One subunit has a TA domain at the N-terminal end, then an epidermal growth factor-like sequence domain (EGF-like domain), a fibronectin type III (FN III) repeat domain, and a fibrinogen-like domain at the C-terminal end.  There is an alternatively spliced domain in the FN III domain, and it generates some types of variants of tenascin-C.  The subunits form a trimer by twisting at the N-terminal coiled domain and form a hexamer by a disulfide bond, in tissue.  While low molecular weight variants of tenascin-C are present in normal tissue, it is said that high molecular weight variants of tenascin-C are expressed in various diseased tissue including cancer.

Principle of Test Method:

The tenascin C assay is a solid phase sandwich ELISA.

References:

  1. Hsia HC, Schwarzbauer JE. Meet the tenascins: multifunctional and mysterious. J Biol Chem. 2005; 280:26641-26644.

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