Antibody News

Florescence activated cell sorting or Flow cytometry is responsible for many of the current innovations made against HIV. Newer-generation FACS machines, proficient of using multi-color panels, are allowing researchers to measure lymphocyte subsets more precisely and cost-effectively. In the case of HIV, flow cytometry can identify which cell subsets are affected by the infection among individual patients. Initial studies using flow cytometry outlined the alterations to major cell pedigrees that occur after HIV infection resulting in a decrease in CD4 positive T-cells and a shared surge in CD8 positive T-cells (1). Consequently, investigators documented the elevated degree at which T-cells were absent in HIV positive human subjects by executing kinetic analyses of T-cell turnover (...

PINK1 (PTEN-induced putative kinase 1) is a mitochondrial directed serine-threonine kinase, that regulates normal mitochondrial function and transport vital to normal performance of neurons and neuronal survival. PINK1 has been shown to be localized to the cytosol, endoplasmic reticulum and the mitochondria. Some investigators have associated PINK1 localization to the intermembrane space, outer membrane insertion with a kinase domain facing towards the cytosol. Loss of PINK1 has been demonstrated to be accompanied with amplified oxidative stress and diminished membrane potential along with low levels of ATP.

LC3B, also known as microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 beta (MAP1LC3B), is an autophagy gene that contributes appreciably to protein degradation. Autophagy is a highly synchronized and dynamic catabolic degradation activity that plays an essential role in cellular maintenance, development, antigen presentation and cell death. Aberrations in autophagy have been the underlying mechanisms for neurodegenerative, muscular diseases and are also prominent in hepatic inflammation and cancer. Increased LC3B levels have been reported in mitochondria of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) after oxidative damage as detected by anti-LC3B antibodies in...

Think B lymphocytes just produce antibodies? Think again! Although, of course, B cells are vital for the humoral immune response, many studies in recent years have begun to uncover antibody-independent actions of B cells: regulating T cells and thus also playing a part in cellular immunity. For example, B cell depletion therapy, a new treatment for autoimmune disorders, has been found to influence T cells in addition to antibody titers. B cells can affect T cells in opposing ways – both enhancing and suppressing T cell immune responses – and accomplish this via costimulation, production of cytokines, and antigen presentation.  In two recent publications, Griffin and Rothstein describe their discovery that CD11b (cluster of differentiation 11b) distinguishes ‘orchestrator B1 cells’, with characteristic T-cell interacting properties, from other human B1 cells; this may be of relevance in the study...

Studies on leukemias and other blood related malignancies is one of the most relevant investigational and medicinal applications of flow cytometry. In the bone marrow, normal blood cells undergo a progressive series of differentiation and branch off as myeloid, B and T cells. Hematological disorders can arise at any stage of the cell, while the differentiating cell will express a distinctive marker depending on the stage of differentiation. Antigen manifestation is routinely assessed by expending unconjugated monoclonal antibodies once the diagnosis of the hematological disorders has been recognized. Preliminary evaluations are usually made with a panel of antibodies using them in more than three combinations depending on the initial clinical observations.  Typically flow cytometry has been used for the diagnostic screening of B and T-cell...

Tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB) is a member of the Trk receptor tyrosine kinases family consisting of TrkA, TrkB and TrkC. The sequence of these family members is highly conserved. Interaction of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) with its tropomyosin-related kinase receptor B TrkB is involved in fundamental cellular processes including neuronal proliferation, differentiation and survival as well as neurotransmitter release and synaptic plasticity (1).

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Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play an essential role in the activation of innate immunity, and TLRs are expressed in a large number of immune cells as well as in epithelial cells. TLR9 recognizes synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) containing unmethylated deoxycytidyl-deoxyguanosine (CpG) motifs and mimics the immunostimulatory activity of bacterial DNA. It is now well established that TLR9 is also expressed in various cancer cells, including breast, brain, ovarian, gastric, lung and prostate cancer cells (1).  Protein expression of TLR9 assessed by immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting using anti-TLR9 antibodies demonstrated high levels...

Over the years muscular dystrophies have become a popular area of research. These are a group of inherited disorders that involve an increase in muscle weakness over time. These disorders greatly decrease the quality of life and there are no known cures. Research in this area appears to have excelled in the past two years with findings related to the genes NCoR and EZH2.

The principle behind muscular dystrophies is the degeneration of muscle. During the development of muscle in infancy, muscle satellite cells are continuously proliferating. After infancy, the satellite cells will only proliferate by activation due to an injury. In these disorders, muscle satellite cells do not proliferate in response to muscle loss.  The activity of these cells appears to be controlled by the gene Ezh2. Researchers at...

Clinical depression (also known as major depressive disorder or MDD) affects many people, but the biological processes that cause it (and are influenced by its treatments) are not well understood. Adult neurogenesis is a newly emerging field that could contribute to our knowledge of the etiology of depression and the effects of antidepressants. Nestin antibodies are key tools for this research, as they can be used to identify developing neurons.

Neurogenesis (generation of new neurons) takes place in the adult human brain, although only on a small scale and in certain locations, particularly within a region of the hippocampus called the dentate gyrus (DG). The neurogenesis hypothesis of depression posits that adult hippocampal neurogenesis is suppressed by stress, and is implicated in the development of depression (e.g. by increasing susceptibility); and that...

Flow cytometry is one of the powerful tools for the investigators in immunological research involved in studying various immune cells. One of the main advantages of this technique is that is capable of multi-parameter measurements that can be accomplished on a single-cell basis. As a result of the advances in the flow cytometry researchers can now decrypt the phenotypes of several cell subsets in ways that were not possible using traditional assays, such as Western/immunoblotting, microarrays and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Abundance of reagents and applications has led to a large array of ways in which flow cytometry is being used to screen and employ immunophenotyping assays to identify lymphocyte, monocyte, granulocyte and peripheral blood mononuclear cell subsets to name a few in humans and other model organisms. The choice of antibody cocktails and...

The Myosin superfamily is a large and diverse protein family, and its members are grouped into many classes, are involved in a number of cellular pathways (1). Myosins contain actin- and ATP-binding sites in their conserved catalytic head domain and localize to a number of intracellular compartments and participate in many trafficking and anchoring events. A number of myosin-binding proteins have been discovered, and their identities have often provided information that is essential to the understanding of cellular functions of these motor proteins (2).

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Synaptophysin a Marker Protein in Neuroendocrine Cells Synaptophysin is a major integral membrane glycoprotein of neuronal synaptic vesicles present in virtually all synapses and shows a high degree of evolutionary conservation across the mammals. Synaptophysin has been detected in numerous endocrine cell types and is localized in the membrane of small synaptic-like vesicles. Antibodies directed against synaptophysin are a valuable tool for the immunoblotting and immunohistochemical quantification.

Synaptophysin was detected in perfusion fixed frozen sections of mouse brain (...