Antibody News

We at Novus Biologicals have a number of products in our antibody catalog covering the area of circadian rhythms. Disruptions of the "biological clock" mechanism are known to cause a range of disorders.

Clock (circadian locomotor output cycles kaput) was identified in 1997 as being one of the proteins encoding the PAS (PER-ARNT-SIM) transcription factor group of proteins. These proteins control the basic helix-loop helix (bHLH) mechanism, part of the circadian biofeedback loop. Clock antibodies have revealed its role in the development of cancers.

In vivo, Clock is dimerized to create the BMAL1-CLOCK complex. In mammals, this complex regulates cryptochrome genes such as Cry1 and Cry2, and Period genes such as Per1 and Per2. These genes regulate expression of Clock, thus forming a biofeedback loop. Expression of BMAL1-CLOCK genes is controlled by methylation.

Tumor necrosis factor alpha has been shown to be important in the cellular response to chronic heart failure, with signaling taking place through the receptor isotypes TNFR1 and TNFR2. We at Novus Biologicals have a large number of TNF-related antibodies in our database. Many of today's studies are based on information gained by Defer et al. in 2007.

The study set out to further define the TNFR1/2 signaling pathways in rat cardiac myocytes, and used a range of antibody preparations. These included phosphorylated rabbit polyclonal antibodies (including phospho-p44/p42, phospho-MSK1 and phospho-cPLA2); monoclonal anti-cPLA2 antibodies; rabbit polyclonal actin antibody; Peroxidase-conjugated goat anti-rabbit and anti-mouse IgG, and FITC-conjugated donkey anti-mouse antibody.

Cardiac myocytes were isolated from treated and control rats, and a range of...

Conjugated antibodies are a useful research tool in a variety of applications, ranging from Western blot to flow cytometry. We at Novus Biologicals offer many primary antibodies conjugated to enzymes such as HRP, fluorochromes such as FITC, and others including biotin and cyanine dyes.

Our antibody lab is always busy with custom antibody conjugation projects. This past week the lab conducted numerous conjugations, including a LDL Receptor antibody to biotin, a HMGB1 antibody to HRP, an Actin antibody to DyLight 488, and a CD133 antibody to DyLight 549.

When asked about the difference between conjugating an...

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and their corresponding marker antibodies are often used in cancer research, since cell-renewal is a feature shared by both ESCs and cancer cells. The drawback is that there is no clear evidence of a transcription program common to both cell types. However, in a study (Wong et al. 2008), it was described how comparison of human and murine ESC-like gene modules had isolated a catalog of 335 genes, which could be used as a "core ESC-like gene module" for tumor studies.

The publication described how a gene map was constructed to analytically relate the transcriptional programs of adult tissue stem cells, embryonic stem cells and cells from human cancers. The map revealed two predominant gene modules which correlated adult tissue stem cells with ESCs.

Tumors with an embryonic stem cell-activated signature are associated with higher mortality rates and faster and more frequent progression to metastasis. The...

Recent antibody studies have suggested that nuclear factor κB-inducing kinase (NIK) is inhibited through proteasome-controlled degradation regulated by TRAF/cIAP proteins. cIAP1 and cIAP2 are fairly recent apoptosis inhibitors and represent some of the newer products in our antibody catalog.

NF-kB (nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells) is found in practically all mammalian cells and is a transcriptional factor of DNA. It affects the cellular response to a range of stimuli, including free radicals, UV radiation and stress. It plays an important role in the immune response to pathogens, but disruption of the regulatory pathways can lead to cancer and other diseases.

The TNF receptor-associated factor (TRAF) family are adaptor proteins which link various cell receptors to MAPK signaling cascades, thus activating NF-kB. TRAF proteins are important transducers for the...

Apoptosis inhibitors are a well studied group of proteins that have been implicated in the formation of several types of human tumor. The most commonly studied IAP (inhibitor of apoptosis protein) is the Survivin antibody. However, our apoptosis antibody catalog at Novus Biologicals is constantly being updated to reflect the growing list of newer proteins. cIAP1 and cIAP2 antibodies are among the more recent of our anti-apoptosis products.

All IAP proteins are characterized by their ability to suppress cell death via their BIR (baculoviral IAP repeat), a novel domain consisting of around 70 amino acids. Some have an additional CARD and/or RING domains. They prevent apoptosis by inhibition of TNF and other pro-apoptosis proteins. This is done by the binding and inactivation of various caspases (cell death proteases).

The cIAP protein mediates TRAF2 ubiquitination following the receptor...

We at Novus Biologicals have a huge range of monoclonal and polyclonal immunoglobulins on our antibody database, and are constantly developing more. Immunoglobulins comprise a number of different classes, and it’s important you select the right one for your needs. Here, we give a brief run-down of antibody classification.

Antibodies are composed of polypeptide units (monomers). Each unit comprises 2 heavy and 2 light chains (linked H-L on either side of the Y) Each chain has a single V (variable) domain, and the V-pairs form the 2 binding sites of the molecule.

The 5 primary classes are IgG, IgM, IgA, IgD and IgG, identified by the type of H-chain polypeptides they have. The H-chains (called g, μ, a, e and d-chains, respectively) allow the immunoglobulins to function in different types of, and particular stages of, immune response. The peptide sequences...

Not everybody working in immunobiology has an in-depth knowledge of the subject. Some may be students, who are still getting to grips with the discipline at college. Others may have been forced into a swift career change following restructuring at work. For whatever reason, people quite often perform their first antibody assays with only the vaguest knowledge of the underlying concepts. Understanding the molecular structure of a given antibody is fundamental to interpreting its results, therefore we at Novus Biologicals have put a few basic facts together.

Antibodies are glycoproteins composed of one or more Y-shaped polypeptide units. Each of these has two identical heavy (H) and two light (L) chains, forming the left and right binding sites of the Y. The H chains are hinged, and have roughly double the number of amino acids (and therefore molecular weight)...

IgG is the most prevalent antibody in mammalian tissue, and therefore a major number of the proteins on an antibody database are of this type. The other classes that are studied are IgA, IgM, IgD and IgE. Depending on the tissue and disease being studied, polyclonal and monoclonal versions of all these antibodies are also produced against specific antigens. Cross-reactivity can occur in IHC assays using tissue-derived antibodies; therefore it is common to use fragments, rather than entire Igs as primary immunoglobulins.

Antibody classes are differentiated by their heavy chain structure. The light chains are fairly homogenous, but minor differences can occur among the H-chains of some classes. Therefore these are further divided into sub-classes. IgG has 4 such subclasses. However,...

Many people enter immunobiology from a different area of research. Although they swiftly learn the protocols and methods of the assays, they may not fully understand the underlying concepts. We at Novus Biologicals realise that not everybody purchasing products from our antibody catalogue has an in-depth knowledge of the “tools of the trade”. For them, and anybody else needing a quick bit of revision, we have put together a few basic notes.

Most people quickly understand that antibody proteins are produced by B lymphocytes, and are specific to foreign proteins (antigens) that enter the body. The body’s natural ability to produce such antibodies has been utilised into a useful research tool. Synthetic and natural antigens are used to generate antibodies, which are then used as probes to detect and bind to those target...

Recently, we at Novus Biologicals have added a new batch of monoclonal anti-HIF-1 alpha antibody to our hypoxia catalogue, developed from H1alpha67 hybridoma cultures. This furthers the role that HIF-1 antibodies play in cancer research.

HIF-1 becomes active under hypoxic conditions. Its function is the transcription or blocking of a number of genes, to preserve cell viability at times of low oxygen stress. However, HIF transcription can also be activated in non-hypoxic conditions, and HIF expression has been shown to be a factor in tumour development. Therefore both normal and cancerous cell-lines are used in HIF-1 antibody studies.

HIF-1 is a heterodimer complex composed of identical β and α subunits, which must both be expressed for HIF-1 to become active. Under normoxic conditions, the α-subunit is degraded by the cellular proteasome, a process that...

A growing number of studies are looking at causes of cancer at a molecular level – and discovering that hypoxia pathways play a major role. This is because HIF (Hypoxia Inducible Factor) proteins work to prevent cell death. Combined with DNA-repair pathways and the apoptosis mechanism, it’s obvious what disruption of these pathways could lead to.

Antibody studies have focussed on hypoxia-induced autophagy. The HIF-1 pathway is linked to BNIP3 and BNIP3L release, pro-apoptotic genes expressed in certain tumours. It has been shown that BNIP3 expression during hypoxia may result in mitochondrial autophagy, rather than whole-cell death. Thus BNIP3 may play a cell-survival role, decreasing dependency for oxygen. If DNA-repair is compromised, this may lead to cancer development.

Studies into the pRB/E2F protein complex have shown high levels of activity in hypoxia-induced autophagy (HIA) when activated in cancer cells. pRB/E2F has also...