Review Article Alkaline Phosphatase in Stem Cells

Copyright © 2015 Kateřina Štefkova ́ et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Alkaline phosphatase is an enzyme commonly expressed in almost all living organisms. In humans and other mammals, determinations of the expression and activity of alkaline phosphatase have frequently been used for cell determination in developmental studies and/or within clinical trials. Alkaline phosphatase also seems to be one of the key markers in the identification of pluripotent embryonic stem as well as related cells. However, alkaline phosphatases exist in some isoenzymes and isoforms, which have tissue specific expressions and functions. Here, the role of alkaline phosphatase as a stem cell marker is discussed in detail. First, we briefly summarize contemporary knowledge of mammalian alkaline phosphatases in general. Second, we focus on the known facts of its role in and potential significance for the identification of stem cells. 1. Alkaline Phosphatase Alkaline phosphatase (AP, EC 3.1.3.1 orthophosphoric-monoesterase, alkaline optimum) is a membrane bound enzyme which occurs in almost all living organisms. Mam-malian APs have low sequence identity with E. coli, bu