In vitro immunodetection of prothymosin alpha in normal and pathological conditions.

Prothymosin alpha (ProT alpha) is a highly acidic polypeptide, ubiquitously expressed in almost all mammalian cells and tissues and consisting of 109 amino acids in humans. ProT alpha is known to act both, intracellularly, as an anti-apoptotic and proliferation mediator, and extracellularly, as a biologic response modifier mediating immune responses similar to molecules termed as "alarmins". Antibodies and immunochemical techniques for ProT alpha have played a leading role in the investigation of the biological role of ProT alpha, several aspects of which still remain unknown and contributed to unraveling the diagnostic and therapeutic potential of the polypeptide. This review deals with the so far reported antibodies along with the related immunodetection methodology for ProT alpha (immunoassays as well as immunohistochemical, immunocytological, immunoblotting, and immunoprecipitation techniques) and its application to biological samples of interest (tissue extracts and sections, cells, cell lysates and cell culture supernatants, body fluids), in health and disease states. In this context, literature information is critically discussed, and some concluding remarks are presented.