Rabbit monoclonals: Combining the high affinity of rabbit antibodies with the specificity of a monoclonal
RabMAb® overview
- Diverse epitope recognition
- Improved immune response to small-size epitopes
- High specificity and affinity
- Improved response to mouse antigens
What do these advantages mean to you?
RabMAbs have been shown to perform in a wide range of applications. Every one of our antibodies is screened and tested using ELISA, western blotting as well as ICC and IHC. Additionally, many of our antibodies have been tested for use in flow cytometry. In comparison, antibodies available from most vendors are initially only tested for use in western blotting and so use of the antibody in other applications is often not validated.
Comparison of rabbit and mouse monoclonal antibodies
Comparison
Mouse monoclonal
Rabbit monoclonal
Antigen recognition
- Limited immuno response
- Small molecules/peptides often non-immunogenic
- Very limited response to rodent antigens
- Recognizes limited number of epitopes (due to immunodominance)
- High chance of success with range of antigens including small molecules and peptides
- Good responses to rodent proteins
- Recognizes several epitopes per protein antigen
Affinities
Nanomolar (~10-9 kD M)
Picomolar (10-12 kD M) possible
Specificity
Med-High
High
Applications
Western blot, ELISA, FLow Cytometry, IP, not always suitable for IHC, ICC.
Western blot, ELISA, FLow Cytometry, IP, IHC, ICC (excellent results in IHC)
CDX2
Paraffin-embedded human colonic carcinoma tissue stained with CDX2 RabMAb (ab76541) and Vendor A's CDX2 Mouse Monoclonal (both at 1:1000 dilution factor)
E-Cadherin
Paraffin-embedded human breast carcinoma tissue stained with E-Cadherin RabMAb (ab40772) and Vendor A's E-Cadherin Mouse Monoclonal (at 1:50 dilution factor)
HER2
Paraffin-embedded human breast carcinoma tissue stained with Her2 RabMAb (ab134182) and Vendor A's Her2 Mouse Monoclonal (both at 1:500 dilution factor)
Antigen recognition
The rabbit immune system generates antibody diversity and optimizes affinity by mechanisms that are more efficient than those of mice and other rodents. This increases the possibility of obtaining a functional antibody that will work in a variety of applications.
Additionally, small compounds and peptides do not elicit a good immune response in mice, but do so in rabbits. It is often for this reason, that rabbit polyclonal antibodies are developed and used in many research and even some diagnostic applications, ranging from drug screening to clinical diagnosis. As an example of this, most of the phospho-specific recognition antibodies being sold on the market today are rabbit polyclonals.
About rabbit monoclonal antibody (RabMAb®) technology
We have developed a unique and proprietary method for making monoclonal antibodies from rabbits rather than the conventional method of starting with mice. Our RabMAbs diagram demonstrates the general outline used for producing a rabbit monoclonal antibody.
The basic principal for making the antibody is the same as for mouse monoclonals. Our proprietary rabbit fusion partner cells can fuse to rabbit B-cells to create the rabbit hybridoma cells. Hybridomas are then screened to select for clones with specific and sensitive antigen recognition and the antibodies are characterized using a variety of methods.
Patented technology
Our RabMAb technology is the only currently available hybridoma-based technology for making rabbit monoclonals and covered under the following U.S. Patents, No. 5,675,063 and 7,429,487. Our broad patents cover not only the rabbit fusion partner cell line but also the method for generating rabbit fusion partner cell line as well as the antibodies produced from the cell line.
