SSEA-4

Full Name

Stage-Specific Embryonic Antigen-4

Keywords

Stage-Specific Embryonic Antigen-4; SSEA4; Neu5Aca2-3Galb1-3GalNAcb1--R

Background

SSEA-4 (Stage-specific embryonic antigen 4) is a cell surface antigen, expressed along with SSEA-3, TRA-1-60 and TRA-1-81 in embryonic stem cells, embryonal carcinoma cells and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). In human cells, these surface markers are down-regulated during the differentiation process, while SSEA-1 is absent in undifferentiated human stem cells and upregulated on the cell surface after retinoic acid mediated differentiation. Conversely, in mouse stem cells, SSEA-1 expression decreases with differentiation while SSEA-3 and SSEA-4 expression increase.