Tunicamycin, 10 mg

STEMCELL Technologies supplies Tunicamycin, a nucleoside antibiotic and N-acetylglucosamine phosphotransferase inhibitor that also inhibits protein palmitoylation. It is provided as a crystalline solid and is used to induce the unfolded protein response and to investigate the mechanism of autophagy.

The compound has the chemical formula C39H64N4O16 (Tunicamycin VII), a molecular weight of 845.0 g/mol, and is supplied at a purity of ≥ 95% (mixture of congeners), with CAS number 11089-65-9. It is soluble in DMSO at ≤ 20 mM. The product is stable at -20°C as supplied for 12 months from date of receipt when protected from prolonged exposure to light; for long-term storage, it should be stored with a desiccant. Stock solutions in DMSO should be aliquoted into working volumes to avoid repeated freeze-thaw cycles, and the effect of storage on compound performance should be tested for each application. The compound has low solubility in aqueous media, and when used as a cell culture supplement, the stock solution should be diluted into culture medium immediately before use. Avoid final DMSO concentration above 0.1% due to potential cell toxicity.

Tunicamycin has been used in cancer research to radiosensitize human pancreatic cancer cells to chemotherapy, and to induce endoplasmic reticulum stress and autophagy in cancer cells. The product is for research use only and is not intended for human or animal diagnostic or therapeutic uses.