How to choose a primary antibody?

Antibodies are widely used tools in various antigen detection techniques.

However, they are often badly chosen, badly used and badly validated ...

Here is some information and advice to guide you in choosing primary antibodies.

1. Causes of unreliable antibodies

Baker M. Reproducibility crisis: Blame it on the antibodies. Nature 2015 May 21;521(7552):274-6.

2. How to choose a primary antibody?

• Choice of detection technique

Before choosing a primary antibody, it is important to define the most suitable technology for the scientific question asked.

The techniques of IHC, IHF, IC / IF (FCM) are more suited to localize a protein

FCM, ELISA, WB techniques are more suitable for demonstrating the presence or abundance of a protein

The combination of several techniques is always recommended.

More information in the advice section for IHC-IHF-IC / IF

• Monoclonal or polyclonal antibody?

Both have advantages and disadvantages listed below.

In IHC, monoclonal antibodies are often preferred.

• Useful database

- human antigens

NordiQC (contrôle qualité d'immunohistochimies)

Human Protein Atlas (anticorps + profil d'expression protéique et ARN)

ImmunoHistoChemistry Frequently Asked Questions (librairie d'Ac utilisés en anapath)

- antigens from other species

BenchSci

CiteAb

Antibodypedia

• Advice

Choosing a primary antibody should be the result of careful research.

- Cross information from several sources (literature, databases, expertise of colleagues, ...)

- Select the company for its reliability and not for the delivery delay.

- Don't be trust the labels !!

The UCLouvain spin-off specializes in the production of:
- control isotypes
- monoclonal secondary antibodies: anti-Ig mouse, rat, human, pig, horse, chicken
- Ig controls (ani-DNP, ...)
- anti-cytokine antibodies

• The UCLouvain spin-off   is specialized in the production of: