Anti-IRAP Antibody, Clone 3E1 clone 3E1, from mouse

IRAP, also known as Leucyl-cystinyl aminopeptidase, Cystinyl aminopeptidase, Insulin-regulated membrane aminopeptidase, Insulin-responsive aminopeptidase (IRAP), Oxytocinase (OTase), or Placental leucine aminopeptidase (P-LAP) and encoded by the human gene name IRAP/OTASE, is an important aminopeptidase that plays an important role in maintaining homeostasis during pregnancy. IRAP degrades peptide hormones including oxytocin, vasopressin, and angiotensin III; it also appears to play a role in degrading neuronal peptides in the brain such as Met-enkephalin and dynorphin. IRAP also binds angiotensin IV and appears to be the receptor for angiotensin IV in the brain. IRAP is a membrane bound aminopeptidase and is often found within membrane vesicles that together with other proteins like GLUT4 translocates to the plasma membrane in response to insulin or oxytocin. A cleaved fragment of IRAP, the Leucyl-cystinyl aminopeptidase, is found in the blood during pregnancy, low in the first trimester but rising rapidly until birth, whereby it decreases rapidly, thus the secreted form is often used as a pregnancy marker. IRAP is highly expressed in placenta, heart, kidney and small intestine. IRAP is detected at lower levels in neuronal cells in the brain, in skeletal muscle, spleen, liver, testes and colon.