Antibodies are among the most frequently used tools in basic research and in clinical assays. At present, clinically used antibodies are under strict control, but antibodies used in research lack generally accepted scientific guidelines for quality control, and several editorials have lately been published stating the need for guide-lines for validation of research antibodies.
In this context, an International Working Group on Antibody Validation (IWGAV), published last year a proposal for antibody validation in the journal Nature Methods1. The working group consisted of researchers from institutions, such as Stanford University, Yale University, MIT, UCSD, University of Toronto, National Institutes of Health (NIH), European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Niigata University in Japan and Science for Life Laboratory in Sweden. The working group suggested the use of five “pillars” for validation of antibodies with the aim to establish standards for evaluation and quality control of antibodies, for both users and producers of antibodies.
The Human Protein Atlas (www.proteinatlas.org) consortium, funded by the non-profit Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, launched a new version of the open access database for life science and medical research. Enhanced validation of the antibodies used in the program has been the focus in this new version and a large portion of the antibodies used for protein profiling of cells, tissues and organs has been analysed using the principles suggested by IWGAV.