Translational Biomarkers Research, Translational Innovation Platform - Oncology, Merck KGaA, Frankfurterstr. 250, 64293, Darmstadt, Germany.
N Biotechnol. 2018 Oct 25;45:9-13. doi: 10.1016/j.nbt.2018.01.006. Epub 2018 Feb 3.
The biological literature reverberates with the inadequacies of commercial research-tool antibodies. The scientific community spends some $2 billion per year on such reagents. Excellent accessible scientific platforms exist for reliably making, validating and using antibodies, yet the laboratory end-user reality is somehow depressing - because they often "don't work". This experience is due to a bizarre and variegated spectrum of causes including: inadequately identified antibodies; inappropriate user and supplier validation; poor user training; and overloaded publishers. Colourful as this may appear, the outcomes for the community are uniformly grim, including badly damaged scientific careers, wasted public funding, and contaminated literature. As antibodies are amongst the most important of everyday reagents in cell biology and biochemistry, I have tried here to gently suggest a few possible solutions, including: a move towards using recombinant antibodies; obligatory unique identification of antibodies, their immunogens, and their producers; centralized international banking of standard antibodies and their ligands; routine, accessible open-source documentation of user experience with antibodies; and antibody-user certification.
生物文献中充斥着商业研究工具抗体的不足。科学界每年在这些试剂上花费约 20 亿美元。有很好的、易于使用的科学平台可用于可靠地制造、验证和使用抗体，但实验室终端用户的实际情况却令人沮丧——因为它们经常“无法正常工作”。这种情况是由于一系列奇怪而多样的原因造成的，包括：抗体识别不充分；用户和供应商验证不当；用户培训不足；以及出版商负担过重。尽管这看起来可能很有趣，但对该领域的影响却是一致的严峻，包括严重损害科学事业、浪费公共资金和污染文献。由于抗体是细胞生物学和生物化学中最重要的日常试剂之一，我在这里试图温和地提出一些可能的解决方案，包括：转向使用重组抗体；强制性地对抗体、其免疫原和生产者进行唯一标识；集中建立标准抗体及其配体的国际银行；对抗体用户体验进行常规、易于访问的开源文档记录；以及抗体用户认证。
