How To Choose An Anti-PD-1 Antibody For Your Research

Bio X Cell offers three distinct anti-mouse PD-1 antibody clones: RMP1-14, 29F.1A12, and J43. All three antibodies function through the same mechanism – they bind to PD-1 and sterically block the binding of PD-1 to PD-1 ligands, thereby blocking PD-1 signaling (as shown in the image above). These antibodies do not function through depleting PD-1 expressing cells.

All three antibodies are ideally suited for in vivo blocking of PD-1 signaling in mouse models and have extensive multi-year publication records backing this application. The differences between these antibodies lie in their PD-1 blocking capacities, their listed reported (published) applications, their host and isotype, and their origins.

With respect to their PD-1 blocking capacities, a recent publication titled “A Comparison of Murine PD-1 and PD-L1 Monoclonal Antibodies” compares the RMP1-14 and 29F.1A12 clones. The authors found that the 29F.1A12 clone has approximately 100-fold higher PD-1 blocking affinity than the RMP1-14 clone. The authors further conclude that 29F.1A12 most closely models human PD-1 therapeutic antibodies, which have a high affinity and blocking ability. Further details on this study can be found here:

Comparing PD-1 and PD-L1 Mouse Monoclonal Antibodies

Among these anti-PD-1 antibodies, the RMP1-14 clone has the most extensive publication record for in vivo blocking of PD-1 signaling. Importantly, however, the reported applications for the RMP1-14 antibody are limited to in vivo blocking of PD-1/PD-L signaling only.

Alternatively, the 29F.1A12 clone also has an extensive publication record for in vivo PD-1 blocking but can also be used for in vitro PD-1 neutralization, western blotting, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, and flow cytometry. The J43 clone fits a similar description. This can be advantageous for researchers who wish to run in vitro or diagnostic experiments in parallel with in vivo experiments.

The next step in making the antibody selection that is best for your research is to search the publication record for each clone and find an example of published data that uses a similar experimental approach to your own. There may be one clone that is more often used for your specific mouse model and experimental set-up.

Bio X Cell provides a list of selected references for all our antibodies which can be found on each product page. Additional references can be found using search engines such as Google Scholar and PubMed. Searching for the clone name of the antibody in combination with experiment-specific search terms, for example, “RMP1-14 MC38 BALB/c”, is the best approach to finding applicable references. These references will help you select the antibody that best fits your research.