subject: The Uses And Utilities Of Antibodies [print this page] Antibodies have more than often been associated with the treatment of diseases and illnesses. Of course, they do so! Antibodies are the basic chemicals released in our bodies, or for that sake, the bodies of all living beings, in response to the invasion by any foreign particle or molecule called antigen. But curing diseases and serving as the defending force is not all antibodies do! There are different classes of antibodies, like primary, secondary, monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies, finding their applications in varied areas of researches and studies.
There are different kinds of assays in which antibodies are used in different units of purities. Immunosorbent assays like ELISA and Radioimmunoassay have important applications in laboratories for detection of infections, diseases and for finding out the content of antigens in serum. Antibodies constitute a core ingredient of these assays and tests, wherein they form an antigen-antibody complex with the desired protein in the serum and thus prove the presence of the said illness.
Antibodies are used magnificently well in protein identification and protein purification processes. Specifically, the mobility of DNA binding proteins can be well traced using antibodies. Antibodies bind well to specific regions or more technically speaking, specific molecular grooves on the protein structure. The bondage forms a complex which is denser in nature and has changed properties. These changes can be identified without much effort and the proteins thus tracked can be isolated by the process of precipitation through chromatography or by other related procedures.
Antibodies are also used in a scientific procedure called immunohistochemistry. Here, they are used to immunolocalise a particular protein in a tissue, hence the presence of histo in the core name. The tissue is incubated with the antibodies at hand. One of the antibodies present in the sample would bind with the particular protein units and form complexes. This complex can be successfully used in determination of diseased state in the tissue, or else it is put to use in the formation of fluorescent proteins by conjugating it with another molecule.
Fluorescent antibodies thus formed can be used as markers in laboratory experiments. The protocol that is followed here, is that many marker proteins, or proteins marked with antibodies are inculcated in the sera solution. Antibodies used in these sera also include antisera. The catch here is that marker proteins are already saturated and no place on their surface is left for any kind of chemical reaction, however, antibodies attached to them are still capable of reacting. The chemically active areas on the antibodies react with other protein molecules and form a marker-protein complex. The protein molecule thus identified can be isolated from the serum solution. An example would be the CD4 antibody or CD34 antibody which are used as markers for identifying the antigen affinity points on the surface of cells.
Apart from all these substantial uses, antibodies find application is various other realms of scientific routines. They are still finding increased number of innovative uses every day, and are everyday proving to be a factor that has got more roles to play than the treatment of diseases. Antibodies have started working like a genetic clock that can be used to trace the evolutionary mishaps of human being. Every antibody that has evolved has an age and has been formed in response to a new invasion of antigens. Studying them properly helps attain a detailed record of the actions of all these antigens. Apart from this, antibodies find commercial uses like utilisation as synthetic reagents or molecules. ABT737 or UCP2 antibody are profusely used as a cure for bone related diseases like atherosclerosis and nonshivering thermogenesis.
