Products

Alper Biotech's products provide unique proprietary highly-specific monoclonal antibodies with which to recognize the desired target protein(s). The products listed below are for research use only.

AB-PCBP1 MoAb

AB1

$800

AB-PCBP1 MoAb

AB100

$950

AB-HER2 MoAb	AB11	$600				AB-HER2 MoAb	AB10	$950

AB-Actinin-4 MoAb	AB02	$700				Coming Soon	AB000	$000

AB-GMF-B MoAb	AB01	$700				AB-GMF-B MoAb	AB010	$950

Immunohistochemistry (IHC)

Immunohistochemistry or IHC is a method of localizing antigens in cells of a tissue section exploiting the principle of antibodies binging specifically to antigens in biological tissues.

Since IHC involves specific antigen-antibody reaction, it has apparent advantage over traditionally used special enzyme staining techniques that identify only a limited number of proteins, enzymes and tissue structures. Therefore, IHC has become a crucial technique and widely used in many medical research laboratories as well as clinical diagnostics.

There are numerous IHC methods that may be used to localize antigens. The selection of a suitable method should be based on parameters such as the type of specimen under investigation and the degree of sensitivity required.

There are two strategies used for the IHC detection of antigens in tissue, the direct method and the indirect method. In both cases, it is critical to have highly-specific monoclonal antibodies to ensure optimization of the assay sensitivity. Regardless of the method the monoclonal antibody quality will dictate the reliability of the results.

Direct

The direct method is a one-step staining method, and involves a labeled antibody reacting directly with the antigen in tissue sections. This technique utilizes only one antibody and the procedure is therefore simple and rapid. Sensitivity is achieved in this method with custom labeled antibodies against the specific antigen of interest.

Indirect

The indirect method of IHC staining uses one antibody against the antigen being probed for, and a labeled antibody or polymer.

The indirect method involves an unlabeled primary antibody (first layer) which reacts with tissue antigen , and a labeled secondary antibody or polymer, which reacts with the primary antibody. This method is more sensitive due to signal amplification through several secondary antibody reactions with different antigenic sites on the primary antibody. The second layer can be an antibody or polymer labeled with a fluorescent dye or an enzyme . Using a polymer in the second layer is a newer method. Alper Biotech employs this newer method.

Diagnostic IHC

IHC is an excellent detection technique and has the tremendous advantage of being able to show exactly where a given protein is located within the tissue examined. It is also an effective way to examine the tissues. Primary antibodies must be well-validated in a Western Blot or similar procedure to ensure that the staining corresponds with the protein of interest.

Diagnostic IHC is commonly used in cancer and neurosciences for diagnosis, staging, prognosis and directing treatment.

A variety of molecular pathways are altered in cancer and some of the alterations can be targeted in cancer therapy. IHC can be used to assess which tumors are likely to respond to therapy, by detecting the presence or elevated levels (or overexpression) of the molecular target. Examples of this are HER2/neu and Estrogen Receptor (ER).