UniProt Accession Number of Target Protein: P60033 

Alternative Name(s) of Target: K04; 26 kDa cell surface protein TAPA-1; Target of the antiproliferative antibody 1; Tetraspanin-28; Tspan-28Immunogen: This antibody was raised by immunising BALB/c and Naval Medical Research Institute (NMRI) mice with CD81 extracellular loop 2 (ECL2) protein or with CHO‐CD81 cells.

Specificity: This antibody is specific for a conformational epitope in the extracellular domain of human CD81, a receptor used by hepatitis C virus to infect human hepatocytes.

Application Notes: This antibody has been identified as a potential anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) agent (Ji et al, 2015). It displays potent and broad-spectrum inhibition of HCV entry in vitro, and has been shown to both prevent HCV infection and limit HCV spread in mice models (Ji et al, 2015) by blocking viral engagement of CD81.The binding specificity of this antibody has been confirmed in FACS analysis (Ji et al, 2015). A Fab fragment of this antibody has been used to determine the crystal structure of CD81K04 binding to the large extracellular loop of CD81 (Bujotzek et al, 2016).

Antibody first published in:Ji et alPrevention of hepatitis C virus infection and spread in human liver chimeric mice by an anti‐CD81 monoclonal antibodyHepatology. 2015. 61(4):1136-44PMID:25417967Note on publication:Describes the original generation of this antibody, and its characterisation.