Characterization of a human UT‐B urea transporter antibody (897.3)

Urea entry into the gastrointestinal tract is facilitated by the urea transporter UT-B1 (Stewart 2011). This process is crucial to our intestinal wellbeing as it is the first step in the urea nitrogen salvaging mechanism, which is necessary for maintaining healthy gut bacterial populations. In a previous study using a bovine UT-B antibody, a 35kDa human UT-B1 protein was found to be highly expressed in the ascending colon (Collins et al., 2010). The aim of this study was to produce a reliable human UT-B antibody to be used for further investigations of human UT-B expression. Initial PCR analysis using primers designed along the UT-B gene confirmed UT-B1 as the major isoform expressed at the RNA level in all human gastrointestinal tissues. Three polyclonal human UT-B antibodies - one designed against the N-terminal (UT-B#N) and two against the C-terminal (UT-B#C and UT-Bc19) - were made according to the UT-B1 amino acid sequence and extensive characterization was carried out using Western blot analysis. Wh...