Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2009 Jan;57(1):1-5.
doi: 10.1369/jhc.2008.952770. Epub 2008 Oct 14.

A guide to the perplexed on the specificity of antibodies

Clifford B Saper  1
Affiliations
Review

A guide to the perplexed on the specificity of antibodies

Clifford B Saper. J Histochem Cytochem. 2009 Jan.

Abstract

Many investigators are unaware of the potential problems with specificity of antibodies and the need to document antibody characterization meticulously for each antibody that is used. In this review, I consider the principles of antibody action and how they define a set of rules for what information should be obtained by the investigator before using an antibody in a serious scientific investigation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Coons AH (1958) Fluorescent antibody methods. Gen Cytochem Methods 1:399–422 - PubMed
    1. Fox CH, Johnson FB, Whiting J, Roller PP (1985) Formaldehyde fixation. J Histochem Cytochem 33:845–853 - PubMed
    1. Guan N, Yu LX, Wu GH, Xing Y, Ding J (2008) Antigen retrieval with protease digestion applied in immunohistochemical diagnosis of Alport syndrome. Nephrol Dial Transplant 23:3509–3513 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Long DJ, Buggs C (2008) Microwave oven-based technique for immunofluorescent staining of paraffin-embedded tissues. J Mol Histol 39:1–4 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lorincz A, Nusser Z (2008) Specificity of immunoreactions: the importance of testing specificity in each method. J Neurosci 28:9083–9086 - PMC - PubMed