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- Table of Contents
Plan CDK12 IHC in paraffin sections around general nuclear staining (HPA tissue IHC) and the catalog antibody’s 2–5 μg/ml range (datasheet A03495-1). Breast glandular cells show high staining (HPA tissue IHC) and can serve as a positive control for chromogenic nuclear scoring.
Expected localisation, validated protocols, controls and antibodies — the at-a-glance facts below, then the full design guide.
| Expected localisation | Nuclear tissue staining; speckles annotated molecularly (HPA tissue IHC; UniProt) | |
| Staining pattern | General nuclear staining across cell types (HPA tissue IHC) | |
| Antigen retrieval | EDTA pH 8.0 HIER, heat-mediated (datasheet A03495-1) | |
| Positive control | Adrenal gland+4 more · see all | |
| Negative control | None in HPA (detected in all 45 tissues); use no-primary + isotype controls |
| Fixation | Keep tissue fixation consistent (standard IHC practice; not target-specific) | |
| Caveat | Broad nuclear expression limits tissue-negative controls (HPA tissue IHC) | |
| Regulation | Widely expressed; regulation unspecified (UniProt) | |
| Isoform / epitope | 3 isoforms; check epitope coverage by sequence (UniProt) |
The catalog antibody protocol is accompanied by one published CDK12 IHC protocol for paraffin-embedded gastric tissue (PMC6743279).
| Sample | Paraffin-embedded human bladder urothelial carcinoma tissue; fixative not specified (datasheet A03495-1) |
| Fixation | Image fixative and duration unreported (datasheet A03495-1); 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 A03495-1); 20 min, 95–100 °C (standard) |
| Peroxidase block | 3% H2O2, 10 min, room temperature (standard) |
| Blocking | 10% goat serum (datasheet A03495-1) |
| Primary antibody | Rabbit anti-CDK12, 2-5 μg/ml (datasheet A03495-1) |
| Primary incubation | Overnight at 4 °C (datasheet A03495-1) |
| Detection | HRP-conjugated secondary, DAB chromogen (datasheet A03495-1) |
| Counterstain | Hematoxylin, blue, dehydrate and mount (standard) |
| Expected result | CDK12-positive staining in glandular cells of adrenal gland (HPA tissue IHC: High). HPA tissue profile: General nuclear expression. No signal in the no-primary control. |
CDK12 should stain nuclei, consistent with its nuclear and nuclear-speckle localization (UniProt Q9NYV4; HPA subcellular). Expect broad expression, including strong staining in the listed glandular, hematopoietic, respiratory epithelial, granular-layer, and neuronal cells (UniProt Q9NYV4: widely expressed; HPA tissue IHC: High). HPA rates the tissue pattern Supported because antibody staining is highly consistent with RNA expression (HPA tissue IHC: Supported). CDK12 has no transmembrane segment (UniProt Q9NYV4 topology).
| Distinct nuclear staining in glandular cells of breast, appendix, adrenal gland, or cervix. | This fits the reported High staining in those cells (HPA tissue IHC). Judge localization within identifiable cells; broad expression means adjacent positive cell types need not be dismissed (UniProt Q9NYV4: widely expressed; HPA tissue IHC: general nuclear expression). |
| Strong nuclei in bone-marrow hematopoietic cells, bronchial respiratory epithelium, cerebellar granular-layer cells, or cortical neurons. | These are additional reported High patterns (HPA tissue IHC). Nuclear enrichment supports the call (HPA tissue IHC: general nuclear expression); speckles may be easier to resolve by IF than by chromogenic IHC (HPA subcellular; general microscopy practice). |
| Predominantly cytoplasmic, membranous, or extracellular color with little nuclear signal. | This conflicts with the reported nuclear pattern (UniProt Q9NYV4: nucleus and nuclear speckles; HPA tissue IHC: general nuclear expression). Check morphology, counterstain, and detection controls before calling it CDK12; the compartment mismatch alone does not identify the artefact (general IHC practice). |
| Signal is strongest in an unexpected cell population while reported high-staining cells are faint. | Consider cross-reactivity or endogenous detection activity (general IHC practice). HPA reports broad nuclear expression, so an unlisted positive cell type is not automatically false; weigh its compartment, nearby known-positive cells, and controls together (HPA tissue IHC; UniProt Q9NYV4: widely expressed). |
| Diffuse haze across cells and blank areas, or no stain in a reported high-staining tissue. | Haze without nuclear contrast suggests background; absent nuclear signal in a reported positive population raises a failed-staining concern (general IHC practice; HPA tissue IHC: High in listed populations). Neither finding by itself proves that CDK12 is absent from the specimen. |
| Expected compartment | CDK12 is nuclear and colocalizes with nuclear speckles through interphase (UniProt Q9NYV4); HPA describes general nuclear tissue staining (HPA tissue IHC). Score staining against the nuclear counterstain. In chromogenic sections, visible speckles are helpful but are not required to recognize nuclear enrichment (general microscopy practice). |
| Choice of reference tissue and cells | HPA lists High staining in specific cells from eight tissues, with no negative or low examples in this payload (HPA tissue IHC). Choose an identified listed population as a positive reference; do not treat an unlisted tissue as a validated negative control or infer that every cell in a listed tissue must stain strongly. |
| Antibody evidence | HPA008038 is IHC Supported and ICC Enhanced; HPA073305 has ICC Enhanced but no IHC rating in this record (HPA antibodies). Apply the IHC interpretation to an IHC-validated antibody and its controls. The ICC rating does not supply an IHC-P dilution or establish an IHC result for the second antibody. |
| Molecular variation | UniProt lists 3 isoforms and numerous modified residues, including phosphorylation sites (UniProt Q9NYV4). The supplied record gives no antibody epitope or isoform recognition data, so these features cannot explain a specific staining difference or justify changing antigen retrieval. |
| IF/ICC: what pattern should be expected? | HPA reports enhanced nucleoplasmic and nuclear-speckle localization in ICC-IF, with images from Rh30, SiHa, U2OS, A-431, and U-251MG (HPA subcellular). Expect nuclear enrichment with possible speckled detail; this is an IF interpretation, not an IF protocol or evidence that every cell line has identical intensity. |
| Situation | Likely cause | Next action |
|---|---|---|
| Reported high-staining cells show no nuclear signal. | The IHC run or tissue may be unsuitable; absence in one section does not establish a CDK12-negative tissue (general IHC practice; HPA tissue IHC: High in listed cells). | Verify the intended cell population and tissue preservation, then review the IHC-validated antibody's supplied IHC-P conditions and a positive-control section (general IHC practice). No CDK12-specific retrieval or dilution is provided here. |
| Stain is mainly cytoplasmic or membranous. | The distribution conflicts with nuclear CDK12 localization; nonspecific binding, misread morphology, or detection artefact are possibilities (UniProt Q9NYV4; HPA tissue IHC; general IHC practice). | Compare with the nuclear counterstain and a known-positive section; review antibody and detection controls before scoring the signal as CDK12 (general IHC practice). |
| Whole sections have diffuse color without crisp nuclei. | General background can obscure compartment-specific staining (general IHC practice). HPA's general nuclear pattern cannot validate uniform haze as CDK12 (HPA tissue IHC). | Inspect the no-primary control and review blocking, washing, chromogen development, and detection settings under the established IHC workflow (general IHC practice). |
| An unexpected cell population stains more strongly than listed high-staining cells. | Cross-reactivity or endogenous detection activity is possible, although CDK12 is widely expressed (general IHC practice; UniProt Q9NYV4). HPA's list is not an exclusion map (HPA tissue IHC). | Check whether the signal is nuclear, compare a listed positive population, and use no-primary and detection controls to locate background (HPA tissue IHC; general IHC practice). |
| A nuclear result lacks obvious speckles in chromogenic sections. | Speckles may be below the practical visual resolution of the section and chromogen pattern (general microscopy practice); HPA nevertheless reports nuclear speckles in ICC-IF (HPA subcellular). | Score convincing nuclear enrichment in identifiable cells and reserve fine speckle assessment for the separate IF/ICC workflow (HPA tissue IHC; HPA subcellular; general microscopy practice). |
| Two antibodies or runs give different staining intensity. | The record provides antibody validation categories but no shared epitope, dilution, or retrieval comparison (HPA antibodies). Intensity differences therefore have no supported CDK12-specific explanation here. | Compare compartments and the same identified reference cells, confirm each antibody's IHC validation, and document run conditions before interpreting a biological difference (HPA antibodies; HPA tissue IHC; general IHC practice). |
Comprehensive Human Protein Atlas IHC scoring per tissue (reliability: Supported — High 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adrenal gland | Glandular cells | High | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Appendix | Glandular cells | High | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Bone marrow | Hematopoietic cells | High | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Breast | Glandular cells | High | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Bronchus | Respiratory epithelial cells | High | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Tissue | Cell type | Level | Evidence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| None in HPA: CDK12 is detected in all 45 scored tissues. Use a no-primary (secondary-only) and an isotype control instead. | ||||
Troubleshoot CDK12 staining by checking nuclear localisation, retrieval conditions and cell level controls before comparing chromogenic IHC results across sections.
A03495-1 has IHC data from human paraffin sections and IF/ICC data from A549 cells (catalog image captions); listed reactivity is Human (catalog: reactivity).
A03495-1 will render with an IHC figure from human bladder urothelial carcinoma; additional IHC captions show human prostate cancer and spleen in paraffin sections (catalog IHC image captions). Its IF/ICC caption shows A549 cells (catalog IF image caption).
Which to pick: Choose A03495-1 for human paraffin-section IHC: its caption documents heat retrieval in EDTA, pH 8.0, and primary antibody at 2 μg/ml (catalog IHC image caption). The same SKU is listed for IF/ICC at 5 μg/ml and has an A549 cell image (catalog applications, dilution, and IF image caption). Cross-species use has no listed validation (catalog: Human reactivity); clonality and the paraffin-section fixative are unreported (catalog payload and IHC image caption).