Rab8 antibodies are immunological tools specifically designed to detect Rab8. a small GTPase belonging to the Rab family of proteins involved in regulating intracellular membrane trafficking. Rab8 plays a critical role in vesicle transport, particularly in the recycling of cargo from the Golgi apparatus to the plasma membrane, and is essential for maintaining cell polarity, ciliogenesis, and signaling pathways. It cycles between an active GTP-bound state and an inactive GDP-bound state, interacting with effector proteins to coordinate membrane dynamics.
Antibodies targeting Rab8 are widely used in research to study its localization, expression levels, and functional interactions in various cell types. They are employed in techniques like Western blotting, immunofluorescence, and immunoprecipitation to investigate Rab8's role in diseases such as neurodegenerative disorders (e.g., Huntington’s disease), cancer metastasis, and ciliopathies. For example, Rab8 dysfunction has been linked to impaired ciliary formation, contributing to retinal degeneration or Bardet-Biedl syndrome.
These antibodies are typically developed in host species like rabbits or mice, and their specificity is validated using knockout cell lines or siRNA-mediated knockdown. Researchers rely on high-quality Rab8 antibodies to explore membrane trafficking mechanisms and their implications in health and disease, making them indispensable in cell biology and biomedical studies.