anti-c-Fos (human), Rabbit Monoclonal (RM374)

The Fos family of nuclear oncogenes includes c-Fos, FosB, Fos-related antigen 1 (FRA1) and Fos-related antigen 2 (FRA2). The expression of Fos proteins is rapidly and transiently induced by a variety of extracellular stimuli including growth factors, cytokines, neurotransmitters, polypeptide hormones and stress. Fos proteins dimerize with Jun proteins (c-Jun, JunB, and JunD) to form Activator Protein-1 (AP-1), a transcription factor that binds to TRE/AP-1 elements and activates transcription of several genes that play an important role in cellular signal transduction, cell proliferation and differentiation. c-Fos has been shown to be phosphorylated by various stimuli including growth factors and insulin at atleast seven different sites. The best known upstream kinase for phosphorylation at Thr232 is ERK MAPK which regulates localization of c-Fos to the nucleus and is thus important for c-Fos induced transcriptional activity. Phosphorylation of c-Fos at Ser32 and Thr232 by Erk5 increases protein stability and nuclear localization. c-Fos plays an important role in many cellular functions and has been found to be overexpressed in a variety of cancers.