Clone REA366 recognizes the human CD37 antigen, a multi-pass membrane protein which is also known as tetraspanin-26 (Tspan-26). CD37 is a member of the transmembrane 4 superfamily of tetraspanin proteins, which consist of 4 potential membrane-spanning regions, 2 extracellular loops, and 2 short intracytoplasmic tails. Although most tetraspanins are ubiquitous proteins, CD37 expression is nearly exclusively limited to mature B cells and B cell–derived lymphoid malignancies. B cell early progenitors, T cells, natural killer cells, and myeloid cells exhibit only minimal amounts of membrane-associated CD37. In innate immunity, CD37 interacts with pattern recognition receptor dectin-1, stabilizing dectin-1 at the macrophage cell surface, and negatively regulating proinflammatory cytokine secretion following ligand recognition. Adaptive humoral immune responses are also perturbed by CD37 ablation. In cellular immunity, CD37 negatively regulates T cell proliferation. In APCs, CD37 associates with MHC class II at the cell surface and has been shown to negatively regulate antigen presentation. CD37 has recently attracted interest as a target for monoclonal antibodies with therapeutic potential in B cell malignancies.

Additional information: Clone REA366 displays negligible binding to Fc receptors.