About Legumain
This gene encodes a cysteine protease that has a strict specificity for hydrolysis of asparaginyl bonds. This enzyme may be involved in the processing of bacterial peptides and endogenous proteins for MHC class II presentation in the lysosomal/endosomal systems. Enzyme activation is triggered by acidic pH and appears to be autocatalytic. Protein expression occurs after monocytes differentiate into dendritic cells. A fully mature, active enzyme is produced following lipopolysaccharide expression in mature dendritic cells. Overexpression of this gene may be associated with the majority of solid tumor types. This gene has a pseudogene on chromosome 13. Several alternatively spliced transcript variants have been described, but the biological validity of only two has been determined. These two variants encode the same isoform. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]

About FITC
Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) has an excitation peak at 495 nm and an emission peak at 519 nm. The name FITC is a misnomer in that the isothiocyanate is a reactive form of this dye. Once FITC is conjugated to an antibody, it is simply Fluorescein conjugated. FITC is one of the most widely used dyes for fluorescent applications, therefore most instruments come standard with a 488 nm laser and FITC filter set up. FITC is commonly conjugated to secondary antibodies and used in applications such as flow cytometry, immunocytochemistry, and immunohistochemistry. FITC is relatively dim, sensitive to photobleaching and it is susceptible to changes is pH. There are better performing alternatives to FITC, like Vio®Bright 515, Alexa Fluor™ 488, iFluor® 488, CF®488A and DY-488. FITC is a long-time generic dye with no sole manufacturer or trademark.