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- Table of Contents
This guide maps LTA4H nuclear and cytoplasmic tissue staining and highlights strongly stained lung macrophages (HPA tissue IHC). It gives a paraffin-section IHC starting concentration of 1–2 μg/mL and covers fixation, detection, and scoring (datasheet A02399-1; standard IHC practice).
Expected localisation, validated protocols, controls and antibodies — the at-a-glance facts below, then the full design guide.
| Expected localisation | Nuclear and cytoplasmic staining in most tissues (HPA tissue IHC) | |
| Staining pattern | Cells in most tissues show nuclear and cytoplasmic staining (HPA tissue IHC) | |
| Antigen retrieval | EDTA pH 8.0 HIER, heat-mediated (datasheet A02399-1) | |
| 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 fixation consistent across sections (standard IHC practice; not target-specific) | |
| Caveat | Strong lung macrophage staining may complicate scoring (HPA tissue IHC) | |
| Regulation | No specific expression regulator reported (UniProt) | |
| Isoform / epitope | 4 isoforms; antibody epitope coverage is unknown (UniProt) |
The catalog antibody’s IHC-P protocol uses EDTA pH 8.0 retrieval (datasheet: A02399-1). Three published LTA4H IHC protocols provide additional conditions (PMC8710725; PMC3917894; PMC11731977).
| Sample | Paraffin-embedded human esophageal squamous carcinoma tissue; fixative not specified (datasheet A02399-1) |
| Fixation | Image fixative and duration unreported (datasheet A02399-1); 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 A02399-1); 20 min, 95–100 °C (standard) |
| Peroxidase block | 3% H2O2, 10 min, room temperature (standard) |
| Blocking | 10% goat serum (datasheet A02399-1) |
| Primary antibody | Rabbit anti-LTA4H, 1-2 μg/ml (datasheet A02399-1) |
| Primary incubation | Overnight at 4 °C (datasheet A02399-1) |
| Detection | HRP-conjugated secondary, DAB chromogen (datasheet A02399-1) |
| Counterstain | Hematoxylin, blue, dehydrate and mount (standard) |
| Expected result | LTA4H-positive staining in glandular cells of adrenal gland (HPA tissue IHC: High). HPA tissue profile: Nuclear and cytoplasmic expression in most tissues. No signal in the no-primary control. |
LTA4H is a cytoplasmic protein with no transmembrane segment (UniProt P09960: subcellular location and topology). In IHC, expect staining in many tissues, with nuclear and cytoplasmic expression reported across most tissues (HPA tissue IHC: Supported; medium consistency with RNA data). Lung macrophages, bone marrow hematopoietic cells, and several epithelial or glandular cell populations are reported as high (HPA tissue IHC: High).
| Cytoplasmic staining in lung macrophages or bone marrow hematopoietic cells, with some nuclear staining. | This fits the reported high staining in those cells and the nuclear and cytoplasmic tissue profile (HPA tissue IHC: High; tissue profile). Judge the nuclear component in the context of the cytoplasmic signal: ICC-IF supports cytosol as the main location, while nucleoplasm is listed as uncertain (HPA subcellular: supported cytosol; uncertain nucleoplasm). |
| Staining is restricted to cell membranes or extracellular material, with little cellular staining. | Treat a dominant membrane or extracellular pattern as suspect: UniProt places LTA4H in the cytoplasm and reports no transmembrane segment or signal peptide (UniProt P09960: location, topology, processing). Compare its distribution with a high-staining cell population and check a negative detection control before attributing it to LTA4H (HPA tissue IHC: High; standard IHC practice). |
| Strong staining appears chiefly in an unexpected cell population or tissue compartment. | HPA reports low tissue specificity, so an unlisted cell type alone does not establish a false positive (HPA tissue IHC: RNA specificity). A pattern that spares the expected high-staining cells and instead tracks unrelated structures warrants checks for antibody cross-reactivity or endogenous detection activity (HPA tissue IHC: High; standard IHC practice). |
| Diffuse chromogen covers cells and surrounding tissue, obscuring intracellular boundaries. | This cannot be scored confidently as LTA4H localisation; diffuse background may reflect nonspecific binding or detection background (standard IHC practice). Compare a matched negative detection control and assess whether recognizable cytoplasmic staining persists in the expected cells (standard IHC practice; HPA tissue IHC: High). |
| No detectable staining appears in lung macrophages or bone marrow hematopoietic cells. | These are reported high-staining populations, so an absent signal calls for a technical review before interpreting the sample as LTA4H negative (HPA tissue IHC: High; standard IHC practice). Check that the selected antibody has IHC support, then review the staining and detection controls (HPA antibodies: IHC Supported; standard IHC practice). |
| Cell population and tissue choice | HPA reports high staining in lung macrophages, bone marrow hematopoietic cells, esophageal squamous epithelial cells, and several glandular populations (HPA tissue IHC: High). It reports low staining in cardiomyocytes and skeletal myocytes; low is a comparison level, not proof of absence (HPA tissue IHC: Low). |
| Compartment evidence | UniProt assigns LTA4H to the cytoplasm (UniProt P09960: subcellular location). HPA tissue IHC describes nuclear and cytoplasmic expression, whereas ICC-IF supports cytosol and labels additional nucleoplasm uncertain; interpret a nuclear-only result cautiously (HPA tissue IHC: profile; HPA subcellular: supported cytosol, uncertain nucleoplasm). |
| Antibody validation | Three listed antibodies have IHC Supported status: HPA008399, HPA017017, and CAB015221 (HPA antibodies: IHC Supported). The tissue profile has Supported reliability with medium consistency against RNA data; those labels support comparison with the reported pattern without guaranteeing every specimen will match (HPA tissue IHC: reliability). |
| Isoforms and protein organisation | UniProt lists four isoforms and reports isoforms 1 and 2 in monocytes, lymphocytes, neutrophils, reticulocytes, platelets, and fibroblasts (UniProt P09960: isoforms and tissue specificity). The supplied antibody records give no epitope or isoform coverage, so a difference between antibodies cannot be assigned to an isoform from this evidence (HPA antibodies: supplied validation records). |
| IF/ICC Q: Should the same compartment pattern appear in cells? | A: Cytosol is the supported main ICC-IF location; nucleoplasm is an additional uncertain location (HPA subcellular). HPA008399 has ICC Supported status, but the IHC tissue pattern alone does not establish an ICC-IF result for the other listed antibodies (HPA antibodies: ICC status). |
| Situation | Likely cause | Next action |
|---|---|---|
| A reported high-staining population is blank. | The staining or detection workflow may have failed; a blank slide alone cannot distinguish that from a sample-specific result (standard IHC practice; HPA tissue IHC: High). | Run a known-positive tissue alongside the sample, confirm the antibody's IHC support, and inspect the detection controls before scoring absence (HPA tissue IHC: High; HPA antibodies: IHC Supported; standard IHC practice). |
| Nuclear signal dominates while cytoplasm is faint or absent. | HPA reports nuclear staining in tissue, but ICC-IF lists nucleoplasm as uncertain and cytosol as supported (HPA tissue IHC: profile; HPA subcellular: locations). | Check whether expected cells also have cytoplasmic signal, then compare a negative detection control; avoid treating isolated nuclear staining as decisive (HPA tissue IHC: High; HPA subcellular: supported cytosol; standard IHC practice). |
| Cell borders or extracellular deposits dominate the image. | That distribution conflicts with the cytoplasmic assignment and lack of a transmembrane segment or signal peptide (UniProt P09960: location, topology, processing). | Inspect a negative detection control and compare the pattern with intracellular staining in a reported high-staining population (standard IHC practice; HPA tissue IHC: High). |
| Staining is widespread and weak, making cell types hard to distinguish. | HPA reports broad tissue expression, while diffuse detection background can also obscure cell boundaries (HPA tissue IHC: profile and low RNA tissue specificity; standard IHC practice). | Compare matched negative controls and score signal only where cellular boundaries and compartment are clear (standard IHC practice). |
| Strong staining appears outside the expected high-staining cells. | Low tissue specificity leaves room for additional positive cells; cross-reactivity or endogenous detection activity is also possible (HPA tissue IHC: RNA specificity; standard IHC practice). | Check whether expected high-staining cells are positive, and use negative detection controls to assess background before assigning specificity (HPA tissue IHC: High; standard IHC practice). |
| Two antibodies give different tissue patterns. | All three listed antibodies have IHC Supported status, but the supplied validation records do not state their epitopes or isoform coverage (HPA antibodies: IHC status and supplied records). | Compare each pattern with HPA's cell-level observations and its medium-consistency reliability assessment; do not infer an isoform-specific cause from these records (HPA tissue IHC: profile and reliability; UniProt P09960: four isoforms). |
Comprehensive Human Protein Atlas IHC scoring per tissue (reliability: Supported — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adrenal gland | Glandular cells | High | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Bone marrow | Hematopoietic cells | High | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Cervix | Glandular cells | High | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Epididymis | Glandular cells | High | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Esophagus | Squamous epithelial cells | High | Protein (IHC) | HPA → |
| Tissue | Cell type | Level | Evidence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| None in HPA: LTA4H is detected in all 45 scored tissues. Use a no-primary (secondary-only) and an isotype control instead. | ||||
Troubleshoot LTA4H staining in paraffin sections by checking retrieval, cell identity, compartment, and detection controls before comparing signal across samples.
A02399-1 has pictured IHC and IF in human paraffin sections (IHC/IF image captions). Both antibodies list human, mouse, and rat reactivity (catalog reactivity).
A02399-1 has pictured IHC in human esophageal squamous carcinoma paraffin sections and pictured IF in human intestinal cancer paraffin sections (IHC/IF image captions). M02399-3 lists IHC and ICC/IF applications with human, mouse, and rat reactivity, but has no IHC or IF image captions in the payload (catalog applications/reactivity; image captions: none).
Which to pick: For tissue IHC, choose A02399-1: its human paraffin-section caption documents EDTA retrieval at pH 8.0 and 2 μg/ml primary antibody; the fixative is unreported (A02399-1 IHC image caption). For IF on paraffin sections, A02399-1 has a pictured example; for ICC, M02399-3 lists that application without a pictured example (A02399-1 IF image caption; M02399-3 catalog applications/image captions). For mouse or rat work, both list reactivity; choose M02399-3 if a rabbit monoclonal is needed, while recognizing that the supplied IHC/IF images document human samples only (catalog reactivity/host/clone; image captions).