Antibodies

Hypoxia contributes significantly to the pathophysiology of major categories of human disease, including myocardial and cerebral ischemia, cancer, pulmonary hypertension, congenital heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) is a nuclear protein involved in mammalian oxygen homeostasis.

The ATG5 protein belongs to the ATG autophagy regulator family. This family controls the highly conserved cell's homeostatic response to a wide variety of both self- and foreign-originating cellular stimuli. ATG5 itself is ubiquitously expressed in most cells and most often found co-localized with the cytoplasmic non-muscle actin protein under normal resting conditions. Upon activation of apoptosis, ATG5 expression is then dramatically intensified, with ATG5 directly complexing with its ATG family members to produce autophagosomes.

Breast cancer 1, early onset (BRCA1) is a well-known tumor suppressor gene that was originally discovered due to its link with early-onset breast and ovarian cancer in women. The BRCA1 protein contains the following domains: RING finger, RAD51-interaction, and BRCT (BRCA1 C-terminus). The N-terminus RING domain enables binding to several proteins - including BARD1 (BRCA1-associated RING domain protein) - allowing the formation of heterodimers. The RING finger is important for tumor suppressor activity. The RAD51-interaction domain is involved in DNA double-stranded break (DSB) repair.

The cluster of differentiation 4 (CD4) protein is a surface, type I membrane-embedded glycoprotein that is found on a wide range of cells: T-lymphocytes, B-cells, macrophages, granulocytes, and developmentally-dependent regions specific to the brain. It interacts with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II anti-genes, serves as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) receptor, and can initiate/augment early phase T-cell activation.  In immune-mediated and central nervous system (CNS) infectious diseases, CD4 indirectly mediates neuronal damage.

COX2 is an inducible dimeric enzyme belonging to the prostaglandin G/H synthase family that enables cells to respond to growth factors, tumor promoters, and cytokines. Prostaglandins are synthesized through the creation of cyclic endoperoxides from arachidonic acid and COX2 catalyzes the committed step in the biosynthetic pathway.

C9RANT is a newly discovered protein-like chain that holds great potential promise as a benchmark for measuring disease activity and therapeutic response for patients with the devastating conditions of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and dementia. Mutations within a non-coding region of the C9ORF72 gene are responsible for 20-40% of cases of familial ALS¹. This class of mutations generates repetitive, high molecular weight RNA chains which are insoluble and aggregate within the brain as C9RANT accumulations.

What do scientists think about customer service at places like Novus, companies that sell the antibodies that are often critical components of a wide variety of experiments? Novus ran a survey to find out, and here's what we uncovered.

There is a clear disconnect between expectations of antibodies, and how they perform in real world experiments. Seventy percent of respondents said that they expected their antibodies to work every time, but only 35% reported that this is what actually happens.

The enzyme, aromatase, belongs to cytochrome P450 family of monooxygenases known for their key role in drug catabolism and cholesterol/steroid synthesis. Aromatase uses a heme-group as a co-factor to catalyze the formation of aromatic C18 estrogens from C19 androgens. This conversion includes that of testosterone into estradiol as well as androstenedione to estrone. Aromatase is a peripheral membrane protein.

Western blotting is a widely used technique for the detection and analysis of proteins based on their ability to bind to specific antibodies. It was first described by Towbin, et.al in 1979 and has since become one of the most commonly used methods in life science research. In Western blotting, a mixture of proteins is separated based on molecular weight, and thus by type, through gel electrophoresis. The proteins are visualized with antibodies specific to the target under investigation.

The protein ATF6 is a constitutively expressed transcription factor that is a key mediator of the unfolded protein response (UPR) that allows mammalian cells to maintain cellular homeostasis under conditions of environmental and physiological stress. ATF6 is endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane-anchored in its inactive form, and under certain stress conditions, translocates to the Golgi where it is processed into its active form through action of the S1P and S2P proteases.