Custom Antibody Services
Rabbit monoclonal antibodies (RabMAbs®) are the product of true rabbit-rabbit hybridomas generated by fusing isolated B-cells from an immunized rabbit with Epitomics’ proprietary fusion partner cell line. RabMAbs possess an array of tangible advantages when compared with murine monoclonal antibodies. We’ve segmented these benefits into seven distinct categories which we call The Seven Point Advantage. We encourage you to discover the Seven Point Advantage and learn more about Epitomics' Custom Antibody Services.
1. Novel epitope recognition
Novel epitope recognition: Rabbit’s lower immune dominance and larger B-cell repertoire results in greater epitope recognition. A comparison of rabbit and murine immune responses shows that rabbit antisera recognize more epitopes than mouse antibodies in a Western Blot analysis.
2. Picomolar affinity
Most therapeutic antibodies have a dissociation constant in the nanomolar or sub-nanmolar range (kD =10-9 -10-10M). RabMAbs consistently demonstrate higher affinity, typically at the picomolar level, effectively eliminating the need for further affinity maturation.
3. Higher specificity
A high diversity of B cells and an abundance of splenocytes equate to more success in generating antibodies with higher specificity. The example below shows that Anti-Progesterone RabMAb does not cross-react with closely related analogues of progesterone.
4. Ability to recognize subtle changes such as posttranslational modifications
High specificity and novel epitope recognition of rabbit antibodies translates to success with recognition of post-translational modifications such as phosphorylation, methylation, acetylation, and other types of modifications.
5. Excellent IHC results with formalin fixed parafin embedded tissue
RabMAbs offer increased sensitivity with no loss of specificity. They permit higher working dilutions (5 -10X on average), and contribute in a significant way to standardized diagnostic IHC procedures..1
(1) Rossi S, et. al. Rabbit monoclonal antibodies: a comparative study between a novel category of immunoreagents
and the corresponding mouse monoclonal antibodies. Am J Clin Pathol. 2005 Aug;124(2):295-302.
6. Achieve optimal recognition of human protein and mouse ortholog
Rabbit monoclonal antibodies are ideal candidates for recognizing human protein targets that are highly conserved with their mouse orthologs. This allows for the development of a functional antibody against both human and mouse targets, effectively eliminating the need to generate a separate surrogate antibody against the mouse ortholog for murine animal model studies.
7. Maintain continuity in your antibody projects
If you have a polyclonal antibody that you would like to develop into a monoclonal, RabMAbs may be the ideal solution for you. After finishing your polyclonal project, you can either continue into monoclonal development right away or choose to freeze the lymphocytes and develop monoclonal antibodies at a later time. You can also send the spleen taken from a rabbit immunized at another facility to Epitomics for RabMAb development.
