Recombinant human/bovine/porcine TGF-β1 PLUS™ protein
QK010
Brand: Qkine
Transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1) is a pleiotropic cytokine that regulates various cellular processes, including cell proliferation, growth, differentiation, motility, and apoptosis. It is an essential growth factor in many embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cell maintenance media, including the commonly used E8, StemPro, and mTeSR media. TGF-β1 also promotes the differentiation of various cell types such as fibroblasts, epithelial cells, and immune cells.
Human recombinant TGF-β1 PLUS™ protein is the first entirely animal origin-free recombinant human TGF-β1 protein for highly reproducible results and compatible with chemically-defined stem cell media.
TGF-β1 PLUS™ is a high purity 24 kDa dimer comprising optimized mature domain of TGF-β1 protein. Our TGF-β1 PLUS™ protein has been extensively tested for maintenance of iPSC pluripotency by the specialist stem cell biotechnology company, Stemnovate, Cambridge, UK.

Currency:
Product name | Catalog number | Pack size | Price | Price (USD) | Price (GBP) | Price (EUR) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Recombinant human/bovine/porcine TGF-β1 PLUS™ protein, 25 µg | QK010-0025 | 25 µg | (select above) | $ 355.00 | £ 255.00 | € 298.00 |
Recombinant human/bovine/porcine TGF-β1 PLUS™ protein, 50 µg | QK010-0050 | 50 µg | (select above) | $ 515.00 | £ 380.00 | € 444.00 |
Recombinant human/bovine/porcine TGF-β1 PLUS™ protein, 100 µg | QK010-0100 | 100 µg | (select above) | $ 760.00 | £ 560.00 | € 655.00 |
Recombinant human/bovine/porcine TGF-β1 PLUS™ protein, 500 µg | QK010-0500 | 500 µg | (select above) | $ 3,100.00 | £ 2,300.00 | € 2,687.00 |
Recombinant human/bovine/porcine TGF-β1 PLUS™ protein, 1000 µg | QK010-1000 | 1000 µg | (select above) | $ 4,950.00 | £ 3,600.00 | € 4,205.00 |
Note: prices shown do not include shipping and handling charges.
Qkine company name and logo are the property of Qkine Ltd. UK.
Alternative protein names
Species reactivity
human
species similarity:
mouse – 99%
rat – 99%
porcine – 100%
bovine – 100%
Frequently used together with:
Summary
- High purity optimised TGF-β1 protein (Uniprot: P01137)
- >98%, by SDS-PAGE quantitative densitometry
- 24 kDa (dimer)
- Expressed in E. coli
- Animal origin-free (AOF) and carrier protein-free.
- Manufactured in our Cambridge, UK laboratories
- Lyophilized from acetonitrile, TFA
- Resuspend in 10 mM HCl at >100 µg/ml (provided with protein and free of charge), prepare single use aliquots, add carrier protein if desired and store frozen at -20°C or -80°C
Featured applications
- iPSC and ESC maintenance and expansion
- Chemically defined media
Bioactivity

TGF-β1 PLUS™ (Qk010) is highly bioactive compared to mammalian-expressed TGF-β1 preparations from other suppliers. Comparative activity was determined using a quantitative luciferase reporter assay in transiently transfected HEK293T cells. Cells were treated (in triplicate) with a serial dilution of TGF-β1. Firefly luciferase activity is measured and normalized to control Renilla luciferase activity. Qk010 TGF-β1 PLUS™ lot #011 and #012 (green) both have an EC50 of 1.45 and 1.54 pM (~36 pg/ml). Suppliers 1 and 2 (black) have EC50 of 3.7 pM and 40.7 pM respectively. Data from Qk010 lot #011 and #012.
Purity

TGF-β1 PLUS™ (Qk010) dimer migrates as a single band at 24 kDa in non-reducing (NR) and 13 kDa as a single monomeric species upon reduction (R). High purity yield of dimeric protein (bioactive form). Purified recombinant protein (7 μg) was resolved using 15% w/v SDS-PAGE in reduced (+β-mercaptoethanol, R) and non-reduced conditions (NR) and stained with Coomassie Brilliant Blue R250. Data from Qk010 lot #012.
Further quality assays
- Mass spectrometry: single species with expected mass
- Analytical reversed-phase: single sharp peak
- Endotoxin: <0.005 EU/μg protein (below level of detection)
- Recovery from stock vial: >95%
Protein background
Transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1) is a pleiotropic cytokine part of the TGF-β superfamily. TGF-β1 regulates various cellular processes, including cell proliferation, growth, differentiation, motility, and apoptosis [1]. It plays a crucial role in the immune response, tissue repair, and the epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Transforming growth factor-beta 1 is produced by various cell types, including immune cells, fibroblasts, and epithelial cells. It is synthesized and secreted as an inactive or latent complex, associated with latency-associated proteins (LAP), and targeted to the extracellular matrix [2]. It is released from latency by TGF-β activators including plasmin, matrix metalloproteases, integrins. Once the LAP cleaved, the mature transforming growth factor-beta 1 is a homodimeric protein composed of two identical subunits linked by a disulfide bond. Its amino acid sequence is composed of 390 amino acids. TGF-β1 signals through complexes of cell surface receptors including TGF-βRII/TGF-βRI and ALK-5/ALK-1. This triggers downstream signaling cascades, such as the Smad-dependent and Smad-independent pathways.
In cell culture, recombinant TGF-β1 protein is an essential growth factor in many embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cell maintenance media, including the commonly used chemically-defined E8, StemPro, and mTeSR medias [3–5]. Transforming growth factor-beta 1 supports the survival and maintenance of pluripotency of stem cells [1]. TGF-β1 is used to promote the differentiation of various cell types such as fibroblasts, epithelial cells, and immune cells. It is used in combination with other growth factors such as BMP-2 to regulate bone marrow stromal cell differentiation or with IL-2 and IL-6 to regulate T reg and Th17 cells differentiation [6–8].
To date, recombinant human TGF-β1 has only been produced from mammalian cell protein expression systems (HEK or CHO), where endogenous protein contaminants, cost and animal-free status is a challenge. As part of the ongoing mission to redefine industry standards for growth factor and cytokine biochemical quality, Qkine introduced the first optimized, animal-free, and highly bioactive recombinant human TGF-β1.
Benefits:
- Truly animal-free alternative for chemically-defined stem cell culture media
- High potency in iPSC culture with high pluripotency (nanog) marker expression
- High purity, extensive biochemical data, and exceptional lot-to-lot consistency
Background references
- D. James, A. J. Levine, D. Besser, and A. Hemmati-Brivanlou, ‘TGFβ/activin/nodal signaling is necessary for the maintenance of pluripotency in human embryonic stem cells’, Development, vol. 132, no. 6, pp. 1273–1282, Mar. 2005, doi: 10.1242/dev.01706.
- J. P. Annes, J. S. Munger, and D. B. Rifkin, ‘Making sense of latent TGFβ activation’, J. Cell Sci., vol. 116, no. 2, pp. 217–224, Jan. 2003, doi: 10.1242/jcs.00229.
- J. Beers et al., ‘Passaging and colony expansion of human pluripotent stem cells by enzyme-free dissociation in chemically defined culture conditions’, Nat. Protoc., vol. 7, no. 11, pp. 2029–2040, 2012, doi: 10.1038/nprot.2012.130.
- T. E. Ludwig, V. Bergendahl, M. E. Levenstein, J. Yu, M. D. Probasco, and J. A. Thomson, ‘Feeder-independent culture of human embryonic stem cells’, Nat. Methods, vol. 3, no. 8, Art. no. 8, Aug. 2006, doi: 10.1038/nmeth902.
- A. Wang et al., ‘Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells for Neural Tissue Engineering’, Biomaterials, vol. 32, no. 22, pp. 5023–5032, Aug. 2011, doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2011.03.070.
- Y. Tang et al., ‘TGF-β1–induced migration of bone mesenchymal stem cells couples bone resorption with formation’, Nat. Med., vol. 15, no. 7, Art. no. 7, Jul. 2009, doi: 10.1038/nm.1979.
- M. Elsafadi et al., ‘Convergence of TGFβ and BMP signaling in regulating human bone marrow stromal cell differentiation’, Sci. Rep., vol. 9, no. 1, Art. no. 1, Mar. 2019, doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-41543-0.
- M. Veldhoen, R. J. Hocking, C. J. Atkins, R. M. Locksley, and B. Stockinger, ‘TGFβ in the Context of an Inflammatory Cytokine Milieu Supports De Novo Differentiation of IL-17-Producing T Cells’, Immunity, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 179–189, Feb. 2006, doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2006.01.001.
Customer & collaborator data
TGF-β1 PLUS™ maintains iPSC pluripotency with high nanog expression
TGF-β1 PLUS™ is highly effective at maintaining iPSC pluripotency in chemically-defined, serum and feeder-free culture
Immuno-staining for pluripotency markers Tra 1-60 and Nanog show high levels of expression in iPSC lines maintained in TGF-β1 PLUS™ (Qk010)-containing defined media. In this study, Qkine TGF-β1 PLUS™ performed better than the TGF-β1 used routinely by Stemnovate.
TGF-β1 PLUS™ (Qk010) maintains pluripotency and good colony morphology at 1 ng/ml in a chemically-defined serum and feeder-free iPSC culture. TGF-β1 PLUS™ used at 1 ng/ml; FGF-2 (Qk025) used at 100 ng/ml.
TGF-β1 PLUS™ in combination with Qkine FGF-2 shows enhanced bioactivity when benchmarked against other suppliers
Stemnovate IPS media (chemically-defined, serum and feeder-free culture). Higher nanog pluripotency marker immuno-staining in human iPSC cultured in Qkine FGF-2 (Qk025) and TGF-β1 PLUS™ (Qk010). TGF-β1 PLUS™ used at 1 ng/ml.
All experiments have been conducted by the specialist stem cell biotechnology company, Stemnovate Limited, in Cambridge, UK.
Publications using recombinant human TGF-β1 PLUS™ protein (Qk010)
Modeling the selective growth advantage of genetically variant human pluripotent stem cells to identify opportunities for manufacturing process control.
In Cytotherapy on 11 February 2024 by Beltran-Rendon, C., Price, C. J. et al.
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In Open Research Europe 2024 by Truszkowski, L., Bottini, S., Bianchi, S. et al.
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Recombinant production of growth factors for application in cell culture.
In iScience on 2 September 2022 by Vankatesan, M. et al.
View publication