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Plan chromogenic DCAF1 IHC in paraffin sections with catalog antibody A31776 (datasheet: A31776). Score the cytoplasmic tissue pattern (HPA tissue IHC), with high staining in lung alveolar type II cells as a positive reference (HPA tissue IHC).
Expected localisation, validated protocols, controls and antibodies — the at-a-glance facts below, then the full design guide.
| Expected localisation | Cytoplasmic in tissue (HPA tissue IHC); nuclear localisation possible (UniProt) | |
| Staining pattern | Widespread cytoplasmic staining across tissues (HPA tissue IHC) | |
| Antigen retrieval | EDTA pH 8.0 HIER, heat-mediated (datasheet A31776) | |
| Positive control | Lung+4 more · see all | |
| Negative control | None in HPA (detected in all 45 tissues); use no-primary + isotype controls |
| Fixation | Matched tissue-IHC evidence does not establish the fixation claim. Validate the specimen-specific method before use. (selected-SKU IHC image A31776) | |
| Caveat | Antibody staining and RNA show medium consistency (HPA tissue IHC) | |
| Regulation | Cell-cycle-dependent chromatin binding (UniProt) | |
| Isoform / epitope | 3 isoforms; epitope coverage unresolved (UniProt) |
The catalog antibody uses EDTA pH 8.0 HIER (datasheet A31776). One published DCAF1 IHC protocol provides a Tris-EDTA pH 9 comparison (PMC7407567).
| Sample | Paraffin-embedded human placenta tissue; fixative not specified (datasheet A31776) |
| Fixation | Image fixative and duration unreported (datasheet A31776); 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 A31776); 20 min, 95–100 °C (standard) |
| Peroxidase block | 3% H2O2, 10 min, room temperature (standard) |
| Blocking | 10% goat serum (datasheet A31776) |
| Primary antibody | Rabbit anti-DCAF1, 2-5μg/ml (datasheet A31776) |
| Primary incubation | Overnight at 4 °C (datasheet A31776) |
| Detection | Streptavidin-biotin complex (SABC), DAB chromogen (datasheet A31776) |
| Counterstain | Hematoxylin, blue, dehydrate and mount (standard) |
| Expected result | DCAF1-positive staining in alveolar cells type II of lung (HPA tissue IHC: High). HPA tissue profile: Ubiquitous cytoplasmic expression. No signal in the no-primary control. |
DCAF1 is expected to stain predominantly in the cytoplasm across many tissues by IHC, with high staining in lung alveolar type II cells and medium staining in several listed cell types (HPA: tissue IHC). Nuclear localisation is also biologically plausible (UniProt Q9Y4B6: nucleus and cytoplasm). DCAF1 has no transmembrane segment (UniProt Q9Y4B6: topology). HPA rates its tissue IHC evidence Approved, with medium consistency against RNA data (HPA: tissue IHC).
| Cytoplasmic staining is strong in alveolar type II cells and moderate in listed adipocytes, glandular, respiratory epithelial, or neuronal cells. | This matches the reported tissue IHC pattern: high in alveolar type II cells and medium in those other cell types (HPA: tissue IHC). Compare cells within their tissue context; the reported levels are descriptive, not a numerical scoring threshold. |
| Signal is nuclear as well as cytoplasmic, or predominantly nuclear in a subset of cells. | Nuclear DCAF1 is plausible (UniProt Q9Y4B6: nucleus and cytoplasm). HPA tissue IHC describes a ubiquitous cytoplasmic pattern, while HPA ICC-IF supports nucleoplasmic localisation (HPA: tissue IHC; HPA: subcellular ICC-IF). Investigate a nuclear-only IHC result against a positive control before calling it artefact. |
| Sharp membrane outlines or extracellular deposits dominate the section. | That compartment does not fit the reported cytoplasmic or nuclear locations, and DCAF1 has no transmembrane segment (HPA: tissue IHC; UniProt Q9Y4B6: subcellular location and topology). Treat it as suspected nonspecific staining, especially if the expected intracellular signal is absent. |
| Strong staining appears mainly in a cell type reported as low, or persists as colored precipitate without primary antibody. | Prostate glandular cells, ovarian stromal cells, smooth muscle cells, and bone marrow hematopoietic cells are reported as low (HPA: tissue IHC). Unexpected strong staining warrants a cross-reactivity check; signal in a no-primary control points instead to endogenous detection activity or reagent background (general IHC practice). |
| The whole section has diffuse color, or known-positive lung alveolar type II cells show no discernible signal. | Diffuse color that obscures cellular boundaries prevents a reliable compartment call (general IHC practice). Absent staining in cells reported as high makes the run inconclusive until detection and tissue quality controls pass (HPA: lung tissue IHC; general IHC practice). |
| Tissue and cell context | HPA reports ubiquitous cytoplasmic expression, with high staining in lung alveolar type II cells, medium staining in selected other cells, and several low cell types (HPA: tissue IHC). Its payload lists no negative tissue; a low-staining tissue is not a guaranteed negative control. |
| Compartment and cell state | UniProt places DCAF1 in cytoplasm, nucleus, and centrosomes, and describes cell cycle dependent chromatin association by similarity (UniProt Q9Y4B6: subcellular location). These annotations make intracellular variation plausible; they do not establish a required nuclear IHC pattern in a particular tissue. |
| IHC antibody evidence | Two listed antibodies, HPA036142 and HPA053203, have Approved IHC status (HPA: antibody validation). The tissue profile has medium consistency with RNA data (HPA: tissue IHC). Interpret staining with that qualification; approval alone does not verify every unusual cell or compartment. |
| IF/ICC: what localisation should be expected? | Mainly nucleoplasmic signal, with additional nucleoli fibrillar center signal, is supported in ICC-IF (HPA: subcellular ICC-IF). This answers the IF localisation question; it is a different assay observation from HPA's predominantly cytoplasmic tissue IHC profile (HPA: tissue IHC). |
| Isoforms and epitope coverage | UniProt lists 3 DCAF1 isoforms (UniProt Q9Y4B6: isoforms). The supplied evidence does not map an antibody epitope to them, so a change in staining cannot be assigned to a particular isoform from these records alone. |
| Situation | Likely cause | Next action |
|---|---|---|
| No signal in lung alveolar type II cells | These cells are reported as high, so an entirely blank result may reflect an unsuccessful IHC run or inadequate tissue preservation (HPA: lung tissue IHC; general IHC practice). | Check a same-run positive control, tissue morphology, primary-antibody step, and chromogenic detection before interpreting the sample as DCAF1 negative (general IHC practice). |
| Signal is weak across the section | Some cell types are reported as medium or low, but uniformly weak staining in a known-positive control also raises a workflow concern (HPA: tissue IHC; general IHC practice). | Compare the same-run positive control first; then review the antibody's documented IHC-P conditions and detection reagents. Do not infer a DCAF1-specific retrieval requirement from the supplied records (general IHC practice). |
| Diffuse chromogen covers cells and stroma | Background can arise from nonspecific binding, incomplete washing, or endogenous detection activity (general IHC practice). It cannot be scored as DCAF1 localisation. | Inspect a no-primary control, confirm washing and blocking steps, and reassess only where intracellular boundaries remain interpretable (general IHC practice). |
| Nuclear-only IHC staining | Nuclear DCAF1 is biologically plausible, but HPA describes a ubiquitous cytoplasmic tissue IHC profile (UniProt Q9Y4B6: subcellular location; HPA: tissue IHC). | Check whether the same run shows the expected cytoplasmic signal in a positive tissue and whether the nuclear pattern follows cell boundaries; report the assay-dependent discrepancy if it persists. |
| Strong signal in an HPA low-staining cell type | An unexpected cell pattern may reflect cross-reactivity or endogenous detection activity; HPA's low category is not proof of absence (HPA: tissue IHC; general IHC practice). | Compare adjacent cell types and a no-primary control. If available, assess the pattern with another IHC-approved antibody, HPA036142 or HPA053203 (HPA: antibody validation). |
| Membrane-like or extracellular signal dominates | That location conflicts with the reported intracellular locations and lack of a transmembrane segment (HPA: tissue IHC; UniProt Q9Y4B6: subcellular location and topology). | Review tissue morphology and the no-primary control, then score only reproducible intracellular staining in identified cells (general IHC practice). |
Comprehensive Human Protein Atlas IHC scoring per tissue (reliability: Approved — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lung | Alveolar cells type II | High | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Adipose tissue | Adipocytes | Medium | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Adrenal gland | Glandular cells | Medium | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Appendix | Glandular cells | Medium | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Breast | Glandular cells | Medium | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Tissue | Cell type | Level | Evidence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| None in HPA: DCAF1 is detected in all 45 scored tissues. Use a no-primary (secondary-only) and an isotype control instead. | ||||
Troubleshoot DCAF1 staining in paraffin sections by checking retrieval, compartment, controls and scoring alongside the catalog antibody’s documented IHC conditions.
Both anti-DCAF1 antibodies have IHC images from paraffin-embedded tissue and IF/ICC images from cultured cells (catalog image captions). The tissue images cover human samples for both SKUs and mouse and rat brain for A31776-1 (catalog IHC captions).
A31776 will render with a human placenta IHC image; its other IHC captions show human breast cancer, ovarian adenocarcinoma and pancreatic cancer, and its IF caption shows PC-3 cells (A31776 image captions). A31776-1 will render with a human chronic tonsillitis IHC image; its other IHC captions show human colonic adenocarcinoma and mouse and rat brain, and its IF caption shows HeLa cells (A31776-1 image captions).
Which to pick: For tissue IHC, choose A31776 for the documented human placenta or cancer samples, or A31776-1 for the documented tonsillitis, colonic adenocarcinoma, mouse brain or rat brain samples; each SKU’s IHC images show paraffin sections, with fixative unreported (respective IHC captions). For IF/ICC, both list those applications and have cell images: A31776 in PC-3 cells and A31776-1 in HeLa cells (catalog applications; respective IF captions). For mouse or rat tissue IHC, A31776-1 has direct image evidence, while A31776’s IHC images show human tissue; clonality is unreported for both (respective IHC captions; catalog clone fields).