Sunday, February 9, 2014

Antibody Validation: Some Facts You Need To Know

By Armand Zeiders


Whether you are a biologist or a medical researcher you know that antibodies are one of the most important tools to materialize research. It may be given that these proteins are naturally produced by our bodies, for research purposes most of the antibodies used are created in laboratories by biotechnology firms and are known as custom monoclonal antibodies or custom polyclonal antibodies.

A problem requiring a solution however exists when it comes to custom antibody service, though not forgetting it to be helpful. It has been noted that there seem to be no guidelines set when it comes to the security on the part of the validation of such antibodies. In other words, the custom antibodies produced by one biotech firm may differ greatly from those produced by other biotech firms. And so researchers find themselves with the responsibility of determining whether the reagents are the specific antibodies needed, are selective and are reproducible in order to attain valid results for the research.

To add to what has been cited, prescription drugs and over-the-counter medicines may go through several studies conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration but there appears to be no federal guidelines in order to validate these antibodies where no government agency is actually enforcing some kind of standard to follow. Again, this leaves scientists and researchers with the duty to become very selective on their source for these antibodies and also with the task that they should conduct personal validation for these antibodies for higher chance of reliability.

One testing method to determine the validity of the antibody is the Rimm Lab Algorithm. In this method, a Western blot or protein immunoblot analysis is used to determine validity. There are many steps in the process that can help one determine whether or not the antibody is from a reliable source. The first part of the test determines antibody specificity, and further validation is done using tissue microarray.

The reason behind the need to secure a reputable source for custom monoclonal and custom polyclonal antibodies is the fact that studies regarding them can significantly impact mankind and present boundless possibilities. Make sure then that the biotech firm you trust is one with a clearly given and proven protocol in terms of the antibodies' validation.

Testing the quality of the antibody by biotech firms is one good example and this they can do through the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay or known as ELISA. Biotech companies may require a complete quality-control check which makes this only a portion of it. As for the establishment of antibody specificity, firms can use pre-immune sera. Note that firms which are sources for your antibodies need to be with proven works but even so, you should still do the labs test yourself and Rimm Lab algorithm could be your best solution.




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