The Good
OK, but not great staining of CD3+ cells by flow cytometry. Works with formaldehyde-fixed specimens. No need for dilution of antibody prior to use. Rabbit polyclonal may allow for unique multiplexing strategies.
The Bad
Prolonged assay times due to intracellular epitope and need for fluorophore-conjugated secondary antibody. Epitope recognized by antibody is internal, thus cell fixation and permeabilization is required. Additional optimization of a fluorophore-conjugated secondary antibody may be required in order to achieve desirable bright staining and separation of CD3+ and CD3- events.
The Bottom Line
If you need an anti-human CD3 antibody for flow cytometry, this antibody will work, but you may want to look somewhere else given that other products may achieve better separation between CD3+ and CD3- cells. However, better separation than that presented in this review may be achieved with careful selection and optimization of a quality secondary antibody. In addition, if formaldehyde-fixation and permeabilization of your cells cannot be avoided in your protocol, this antibody might be a good choice, especially given the number of anitbodies that do not perform well on fixed tissues. Furthermore, since this antibody is a rabbit polyclonal, it may be used in multi-staining experiments in combination with other non-rabbit polyclonal abs.