AS160 Antibody

About the Target

AS160, also known as TBC1D4, is a 160 kDa substrate of the Akt Ser/Thr kinase, functioning as a Rab GTPase-activating protein pivotal in regulating insulin-induced Glut4 trafficking. Its expression spans various tissues, including brain, kidney, liver, and both brown and white fat. Upon insulin stimulation, AS160 undergoes phosphorylation at multiple Akt phosphorylation sites, particularly at Ser318, Ser570, Ser588, Thr642, and Thr751, enhancing its activity. Depending on the literature source, AS160 may also be discussed as AS160 (Rab-GAP).

Reported cellular context includes cytoplasm, which can matter when signal is compared across treatments or changing cell states. Following AS160 across matched perturbations can help separate abundance effects from shifts in localization, complex assembly, or pathway state.

Research Context

AS160 is commonly interpreted in the context of cell signaling research, and readouts are often stronger when a study separates expression changes from compartment-level redistribution. When reported signal spans cytoplasm, a defined reference condition can make comparisons more interpretable across perturbations, passages, or replicate sets.

Consider these angles when interpreting target-level changes:

• signal enrichment within cytoplasm relative to the broader cellular background
• signal-dependent shifts after ligand, inhibitor, or growth-factor perturbation
• co-patterning with orthogonal markers and control conditions that clarify pathway state
• time-matched comparisons so changes reflect biology rather than handling or sampling drift

Variant Considerations

If your project spans exploratory questions, the regular version offers a balanced option for establishing baseline signal behavior for AS160. This can help when protocols evolve over time and the goal is to compare experiments using a stable reference workflow.

Standardize sampling time, control choice, and downstream analysis thresholds so apparent differences in AS160 reflect biology rather than handling. When interpreting AS160, it is often useful to decide early whether the main question is overall abundance, compartmental enrichment, or context-dependent redistribution.

For multi-run studies, a shared reference condition can keep AS160 trends easier to compare across datasets. That kind of consistency is especially helpful when follow-up work expands to new perturbations, model systems, or longitudinal collections.