CD14 (source code)

= CD14
{c}

<CD14> is a <protein> used as a marker of <monocytes> and involved in recognition of bacterial <lipopolysaccharide>. These are two different uses of the same molecule: measuring which <cells> carry a marker and perturbing a molecular contribution to a response.

A 1990 experiment linked <CD14> to recognition of <lipopolysaccharide> associated with <lipopolysaccharide-binding protein>. Blocking <CD14> with <monoclonal antibodies> prevented the measured synthesis of <tumor necrosis factor> in the tested whole-blood preparation after <lipopolysaccharide> stimulation. This connects recognition with a defined functional endpoint; it does not establish that <CD14> alone supplies the complete <signal transduction> pathway.<CD14, a receptor for complexes of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and LPS binding protein by S. D. Wright and others>[Abstract: LPS-binding protein, CD14 recognition and antibody blockade of TNF-alpha synthesis]{ref}

For an original quantitative illustration, suppose baseline-subtracted <tumor necrosis factor> readout is 100 arbitrary units with a control antibody and 10 with a blocking antibody. The reduction is $(100-10)/100=0.90$, or 90 percent. These invented measurements show how to state the response being reduced. Matching viable-cell counts and background conditions would help distinguish specific blockade from nonspecific loss of responding <cells>.

<Flow cytometry> supplies a complementary kind of evidence. A 1989 study used <CD14> and <CD16> together to distinguish a <monocyte> subpopulation. A marker-defined population and an antibody-sensitive response describe different properties; neither observation makes every marker-positive <cell> functionally identical.<Identification and characterization of a novel monocyte subpopulation in human peripheral blood by B. Passlick and others>[Abstract: two-color immunofluorescence and functional comparisons]{ref}