Anti-Calcitonin Antibody

Calcitonin is a 32-residue peptide hormone secreted by parafollicular C cells of the thyroid gland, where it opposes parathyroid hormone to lower serum calcium and inhibit osteoclast-driven bone resorption. The same peptide is overexpressed in neoplastic C cells, which makes it a useful tissue and serum marker for medullary thyroid carcinoma, C-cell hyperplasia, and related neuroendocrine tumors.

This polyclonal reagent from Antibodies.com is raised in rabbit and supplied at approximately 1 mg/ml in phosphate buffered saline (pH 7.2) with 0.05% sodium azide as a preservative. The unconjugated preparation is provided at 100 µl per vial, validated for Western blot detection of the calcitonin precursor and mature hormone in human, mouse, and rat samples.

Typical workflows resolve thyroid tissue lysates, medullary thyroid carcinoma cell lines such as TT, or CALCA-transfected systems under reducing SDS-PAGE, followed by probing at working dilutions in TBST or non-fat milk blocking buffer. The polyclonal format presents multiple epitopes across the calcitonin sequence, which can be advantageous when studying pro-hormone processing intermediates that monoclonal reagents may miss.

For handling, keep the vial refrigerated for routine use and freeze aliquots at -20 degrees C for longer storage, limiting freeze-thaw cycles. The included sodium azide should be washed out or removed by buffer exchange before any downstream conjugation or live-cell applications.