Research antibodies: powerful tools for progressing science
Research antibodies have come a long way from their earliest reference back in 1890. Today, they are central to basic research and used in a wide range of bioscience disciplines such as cancer research, neuroscience, cell biology, regenerative medicine, and immunology research.
Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is the principal antibody-based application and is applied to determine the tissue distribution of an antigen of interest in health and disease in both diagnostic settings and for research purposes.
In oncology, for example, IHC is widely used for tumor diagnosis: specific cancer antigens are expressed de novo or upregulated in certain neoplasias. By using antibodies against specific tumor markers, researchers and physicians use IHC to identify and diagnose cancer as benign or malignant, to determine the stage and grade of a tumor, and to recognize the cell type.
In neuroscience, understanding the causes of neurodegenerative diseases involves studies aimed to localize and quantify the abnormal proteins that cause neurodegenerative diseases such as the deposition of beta-amyloid, the cytoplasmic accumulations of alpha-synuclein, etc.
IHC combined with primary antibodies specifically recognizing beta-amyloid, alpha-synuclein, ubiquitin, huntingtin, polyglutamine, and others has become a routine tool for sensitive detection and quantification of these abnormal proteins in human tissues and in experimental animal models of human diseases.
The essential role of antibodies in advancing scientific knowledge is supported by thousands of publications. Here we present three examples of scientific discoveries that could impact a patient’s survival and well-being
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