title: Validation of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) antibodies for immunohistochemical localization of VEGF in tissue sections: expression of VEGF in the human endometrium.
abstract: Transient transfection of COS-1 cells followed by fixation, embedding in paraffin, and immunohistochemistry has identified anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) mouse monoclonal antibodies that efficiently immunostain VEGF in paraffin-embedded tissue sections. Immunohistochemical localization of VEGF in 34 specimens of normal human endometrium that had been collected at different stages of the menstrual cycle was then performed. VEGF was present at all stages of the cycle, but both the pattern and the intensity of staining varied. Thus, VEGF expression occurred predominantly in the endometrial epithelium and while weak in the proliferative phase, was strong in the secretory phase. VEGF expression in the stroma was weaker than in the proliferative phase glands and did not change throughout the cycle. These findings are in agreement with reports of VEGF mRNA expression in the endometrium, but disagree with previous immunohistochemical studies that employed an immunohistochemically unvalidated antiserum. This study has shown that the commercially available anti-VEGF monoclonal antibody M293 is excellent for the immunohistochemical localization of VEGF in paraffin sections.
authors.affiliation: Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, U.K.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Turley
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Leek
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: K C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Gatter
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: I Z
authors.initials: IZ
authors.lastname: Mackenzie
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Rees
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bicknell
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism; D000328:Adult; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism; D004717:Endometrium / Q000378:metabolism*; D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007106:Immune Sera; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008222:Lymphokines / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D008597:Menstrual Cycle / Q000378:metabolism; D008875:Middle Aged; D016612:Paraffin Embedding; D014162:Transfection; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D042442:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors; D007106:Immune Sera; D008222:Lymphokines; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D042442:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors