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- Table of Contents
Plan APOBEC3G paraffin IHC around cytoplasmic staining in tonsil and spleen (HPA tissue IHC). Start the IHC-validated antibody at 0.5–1 µg/mL (datasheet M00708) and interpret staining by cell type (HPA tissue IHC).
Expected localisation, validated protocols, controls and antibodies — the at-a-glance facts below, then the full design guide.
| Expected localisation | Cytoplasmic tissue staining (HPA tissue IHC); a small nuclear pool is reported (UniProt) | |
| Staining pattern | Cytoplasmic staining in several cell types, including immune cells (HPA tissue IHC) | |
| Antigen retrieval | EDTA pH 8.0 HIER, heat-mediated (datasheet M00708) | |
| Positive control | Appendix+4 more · see all | |
| Negative control | Adipose tissue+4 more · see all |
| Fixation | Keep fixation consistent across paraffin sections. (standard IHC practice; not target-specific) | |
| Caveat | Positive cell types differ across lymphoid tissues (HPA tissue IHC) | |
| Regulation | Lymphoid tissue has enhanced RNA expression (HPA tissue RNA) | |
| Isoform / epitope | 2 isoforms (1, 3); epitope differences are unspecified (UniProt) |
The catalog antibody’s IHC-P protocol is complemented by published APOBEC3G IHC methods for ovarian carcinoma, cervical lesions, and rhesus macaque lymph node (PMC5026552; PMC9807366; PMC4418221).
| Sample | Paraffin-embedded human intestinal cancer tissue; fixative not specified (datasheet M00708) |
| Fixation | Image fixative and duration unreported (datasheet M00708); verify before use. |
| Sectioning | 4–5 µm sections on charged slides (standard) |
| Deparaffinisation | Xylene, graded ethanol series to water (standard) |
| Antigen retrieval | Heat retrieval: EDTA pH 8.0 (datasheet M00708); 20 min, 95–100 °C (standard) |
| Peroxidase block | 3% H2O2, 10 min, room temperature (standard) |
| Blocking | 10% goat serum (datasheet M00708) |
| Primary antibody | Mouse monoclonal (clone 6C2) anti-APOBEC3G, 0.5-1μg/ml (datasheet M00708) |
| Primary incubation | Overnight at 4 °C (datasheet M00708) |
| Detection | Streptavidin-biotin complex (SABC), DAB chromogen (datasheet M00708) |
| Counterstain | Hematoxylin, blue, dehydrate and mount (standard) |
| Expected result | APOBEC3G-positive staining in lymphoid tissue of appendix (HPA tissue IHC: Medium). HPA tissue profile: Cytoplasmic expression in several tissues, including immune cells. No signal in the no-primary control. |
APOBEC3G should stain mainly the cytoplasm, with a small nuclear fraction possible; it has no transmembrane segment (UniProt Q9HC16: subcellular location and topology). In paraffin sections, expect staining in selected lymphoid and other documented cell populations, rather than every cell in a positive tissue (HPA: cytoplasmic expression in several tissues, including immune cells; IHC reliability Enhanced, with medium consistency between staining and RNA data).
| Cytoplasmic staining in lymph-node germinal-center cells or splenic red-pulp cells, with nearby cells differing in signal. | This fits the reported medium staining in those specified populations (HPA: lymph node and spleen tissue IHC). Score the named cell population and compartment; a positive tissue need not stain uniformly (HPA: tissue IHC). |
| Predominantly nuclear staining, with little or no cytoplasmic signal. | Review as a compartment mismatch: APOBEC3G is mainly cytoplasmic, although a small nuclear fraction is reported (UniProt Q9HC16: subcellular location). Check morphology and controls before calling nuclear-only staining specific. |
| Strong staining in adipocytes or bronchial respiratory epithelium. | These specified cells were not detected by HPA tissue IHC (HPA: adipose tissue and bronchus). Unexpected signal raises concern for nonspecific antibody binding or endogenous chromogen activity; inspect the negative-reagent control (general IHC practice). |
| Diffuse color across cells, extracellular spaces, and tissue edges. | A pattern that does not follow cell boundaries is difficult to score as APOBEC3G. Review background, washes, detection reagents, and tissue pigmentation with appropriate controls (general chromogenic IHC practice). |
| No signal in the expected cells of a positive-control section. | A blank control section cannot establish a true negative in the test specimen. Recheck tissue identity, antibody and detection steps, and assay controls (general IHC practice); HPA reports medium staining in splenic red-pulp cells (HPA: spleen tissue IHC). |
| Cell population and specimen choice | HPA reports medium staining in lymph-node germinal-center cells, tonsillar non-germinal-center cells, splenic red-pulp cells, testicular Sertoli cells, and selected glandular cells (HPA: tissue IHC). Compare like cell populations when selecting a positive reference; neighboring cells are not interchangeable controls (general IHC practice). |
| Compartment and topology | APOBEC3G is mainly cytoplasmic, can occur in P-bodies, and has a small nuclear fraction; it has no transmembrane segment (UniProt Q9HC16: location and topology). Interpret staining by its intracellular distribution, without expecting a membrane-rim pattern. |
| Strength and validation of the tissue evidence | HPA calls the tissue-IHC reliability Enhanced but describes medium consistency between antibody staining and RNA expression; HPA001812 has Enhanced IHC validation (HPA: tissue IHC and antibody record). Use the observed cell-level pattern as a reference, with that consistency limit in mind. |
| IF/ICC Q&A: should its pattern match IHC? | IF/ICC can show cytosol and nucleoplasm, but HPA marks both locations uncertain and cautions that the finding uses antibodies targeting proteins from multiple genes (HPA: subcellular ICC-IF). Treat it as qualified localization evidence; this IHC section supplies no IF/ICC protocol. |
| Situation | Likely cause | Next action |
|---|---|---|
| The positive-control spleen section is blank. | The assay may have failed, the sampled field may lack the relevant cells, or the tissue may be unsuitable for comparison (general IHC practice). | Locate red-pulp cells and verify the antibody, detection reagents, and control run before interpreting test sections; HPA reports medium staining there (HPA: spleen tissue IHC). |
| Only nuclei stain in an otherwise expected population. | A small nuclear fraction is possible, but a predominantly nuclear-only result differs from the mainly cytoplasmic reference (UniProt Q9HC16: subcellular location). | Compare cytoplasm and nuclei in the same cells, then review negative-reagent controls and antibody specificity (general IHC practice). Avoid treating any nuclear signal alone as proof of an artefact. |
| Brown color is widespread or follows tissue edges. | Diffuse deposition may reflect background from the detection workflow rather than a cell-restricted pattern (general chromogenic IHC practice). | Check negative-reagent controls, endogenous detection activity, blocking, washes, and chromogen development (general IHC practice). Score only cellular signal that remains distinguishable from background. |
| Unexpectedly strong staining appears in adipocytes or bronchial respiratory epithelial cells. | HPA reports these cell types as not detected; nonspecific binding or endogenous activity is possible (HPA: adipose tissue and bronchus; general IHC practice). | Review cell identity and control sections; compare signal with an expected positive population before assigning it to APOBEC3G (HPA: tissue IHC; general IHC practice). |
| A glandular area looks negative despite a positive tissue label. | HPA reports staining for particular glandular cells in fallopian tube, prostate, and seminal vesicle, while cervical glandular cells were not detected (HPA: tissue IHC). Tissue labels alone can conceal cell-level differences. | Confirm the organ and cell population, then compare with the corresponding HPA cell-level observation. Record staining by cell type and compartment (HPA: tissue IHC; general IHC scoring practice). |
| An ICC-IF image seems more nuclear than the paraffin-section result. | HPA's ICC-IF nucleoplasm and cytosol calls are uncertain and carry a multiple-gene antibody caution (HPA: subcellular ICC-IF). UniProt describes APOBEC3G as mainly cytoplasmic (UniProt Q9HC16: subcellular location). | Interpret the IHC section against its own cell-level controls and the mainly cytoplasmic reference. Keep the qualified IF/ICC observation separate from the IHC scoring decision (HPA: tissue IHC and subcellular ICC-IF). |
Comprehensive Human Protein Atlas IHC scoring per tissue (reliability: Enhanced — Medium consistency between antibody staining and RNA expression data.). Rows are taken directly from the HPA tissue chart — click any row's HPA link to view the source.
| Tissue | Cell type | Level | Evidence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appendix | Lymphoid tissue | Medium | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Fallopian tube | Glandular cells | Medium | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Lymph node | Germinal center cells | Medium | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Prostate | Glandular cells | Medium | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Seminal vesicle | Glandular cells | Medium | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Tissue | Cell type | Level | Evidence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adipose tissue | Adipocytes | Not detected | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Breast | Adipocytes | Not detected | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Bronchus | Respiratory epithelial cells | Not detected | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Caudate | Glial cells | Not detected | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Cerebellum | Cells in granular layer | Not detected | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
Troubleshoot APOBEC3G chromogenic staining in paraffin sections using the catalog antibody’s IHC conditions and cell type–specific controls.
Human paraffin-section IHC and cell IF images document APOBEC3G staining (catalog image captions); PB9985 also lists mouse and rat reactivity (catalog reactivity).
M00708 has IHC images from human paraffin sections of intestinal cancer, testis cancer, and tonsil, plus an IF image from MCF7 cells (M00708 image captions). PB9985 has an IF image from human A431 cells and lists human, mouse, and rat reactivity (PB9985 image caption; catalog reactivity).
Which to pick: Choose M00708 for human paraffin-section chromogenic IHC: it is a mouse monoclonal antibody, clone 6C2 (catalog), and its own IHC captions document EDTA retrieval at pH 8.0, 1 μg/mL primary antibody, and biotin–streptavidin/DAB detection; the fixative is unreported (M00708 IHC image captions). For IF/ICC, M00708 has an MCF7-cell IF image, while rabbit antibody PB9985 has an A431-cell IF image (catalog IF image captions; catalog host). PB9985 is the option with listed mouse and rat reactivity for IF/ICC, although its supplied IF image shows human cells and IHC is absent from its application list (PB9985 catalog reactivity, image caption, and applications).