need advice about antibody characterization - (Aug/04/2010 )

I am very confused abut "antibody characterization" methods and the real meaning of this phrase.what exactly should be done to be able to say we characterized a specific monoclonal antibody? If someone has any comments or suggestion for references , books ... please share here. Really appreciate it. Regards,fatemeh

To characterise, you need to test the antibody against its epitope and against protein found in the cells to prove that it is binding specifically and to see if it binds more than one form of the protein (e.g. native, denatured, phosporylated and non-phosphorylated, other modifications etc.). You could also look at it in other systems suchas IP, IHC ChIP... etc.

Thanks for answering my question. Can you please introduce me any references , so I can understand more. Many thanks

A peptide competition assay is a good way to show it as well

Try Antibodies: a laboratory manual by Ed Harlow and David Lane.