Abstract
In the past twenty years, much progress in the study of mucins has resulted from the development of antibodies recognizing carbohydrate and peptide epitopes. Although antibodies are extremely useful reagents in biology, antibodies of ambiguous specificity, or antibodies whose specificity has been poorly characterized, can also add considerable confusion to any field of study. Whereas it is relatively straightforward to develop antibodies recognizing a known molecule or epitope, it is often much more difficult and time-consuming to establish the specificity of antibodies raised against complex molecular mixtures. Furthermore, because the universe of antigens cannot be systematically tested, it is extremely important to bear in mind that antibodies, whether polyclonal or monoclonal, raised against a known molecule may crossreact with unrelated molecules. The latter may share with cognate antigen chemical characteristics that are easy to identify (i.e., primary amino acid sequence), or lack apparent structural relatedness. Therefore, when using antibodies, a word of caution is always necessary.
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Real, F.X., de Bolós, C., Oosterwijk, E. (2000). Polyclonal and Monoclonal Techniques. In: Corfield, A.P. (eds) Glycoprotein Methods and Protocols. Methods in Molecular Biology™, vol 125. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-048-9:353
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-048-9:353
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