REA113 recognizes CD94, an approximately 45 kDa, single pass, type II transmembrane protein, which belongs to C-type lectin superfamily. CD94 associates covalently with NKG2 family members and forms disulfide-bonded heterodimers. CD94-NKG2 receptors bind HLA-E, the non-classical MHC class Ib molecule. Depending on the associated NKG2 member, CD94-NKG2 heterodimer transmits either activating or inhibitory signal. For example, via immunoreceptor tyrosine–based inhibitory motifs (ITIMs) containing NKG2A, CD94-NKG2A heterodimers inhibit NK cell cytotoxicity. Besides NK cells, expression of CD94-NKG2 heterodimers is also shown on NK-T cells and a small percentage of CD8 cells in mice, where the crosslinking of CD94-NKG2 was shown to reduce the level of spontaneous apoptosis. Additional Information: Clone REA113 displays negligible binding to Fc receptors.
