CST BLOG: Lab Expectations

The official blog of Cell Signaling Technology (CST), where we discuss what to expect from your time at the bench, share tips, tricks, and information.

CST Dominates CiteAb's Top Cited Research Antibodies List—Again

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Year after year, CST antibodies are the most cited research reagents used by scientists worldwide. How do we know? CiteAb’s annual list of top research reagents parses over 8.5 million products from 340 companies and more than three million citations to determine the 100 top cited antibodies. The resulting analysis offers a data-driven snapshot of the antibodies (and antibody companies) scientists trust most often with their research projects destined for publication.

For the eighth year running—every year the analysis has been conducted—CST antibodies have dominated, making up over a third of the list every time. This year’s list features products from 12 vendors, so it’s no small feat that 35 of the antibodies are from CST.

More CST antibodies appear on CiteAb to cited list than any other company's... ever.

We’ve been tracking CiteAb’s list of top cited RUO antibodies since it began, and it got us wondering… what’s the most cited antibody of all time? Read on to find out, and for a closer look at the 2023 CiteAb data.

Top Three Most Cited Antibodies, Five Years Running

CiteAb’s analysis demonstrates that CST antibodies are the reagents researchers turn to most often when they have a research project destined for publication. For the fifth consecutive year, our antibodies hold all of the coveted top three spots: 

  1. Secondary antibody: Anti-rabbit IgG, HRP-linked Antibody #7074
  2. Secondary Antibody: Anti-mouse IgG, HRP-linked Antibody #7076
  3. Primary Antibody: Phospho-Akt (Ser473) (D9E) XP® Rabbit mAb #4060

Moving further down the list, out of the top 40 antibodies, half are from CST. That’s nearly triple that of the second-highest-ranking vendor, who has just seven antibodies in the top 40.

According to CiteAb, half of the top 20 most cited research antibodies of 2023 are from CST
According to CiteAb, over one third of the top 100 most cited research antibodies of 2023 are from CST
The top 3 most cited research antibodies are CST antibodies

We’re proud to be trusted by so many researchers and humbled by the number of publication-worthy discoveries our antibodies have been used to make. It’s no secret that we take antibody validation seriously, and we believe that it’s our commitment to consistent product performance and stringent validation that truly sets us apart. The continued dominance of CST antibodies on CiteAb’s lists shows that this effort is well worth all the time and energy it takes.

35% of the top cited research antibodies of 2023 are CST antibodies, more than Themo Fisher Scientific, Abcam, MilliporeSigma or Proteintech

Nine of the Top Ten Primary Antibodies are from CST

In looking at the CiteAb data, it’s worth noting that over two-thirds of the products featured are support reagents like secondary antibodies, common loading controls, and tags. While reagents of this type play a critical role in experimental design and data interpretation, they’re usually not directly involved in answering the biological question at hand. However, because these reagents are used ubiquitously in experimentation, it’s not surprising that they appear frequently on the list. 

Conversely, primary antibodies to targets that help us interrogate the underlying biology—i.e., those that elucidate cellular processes and help determine the effect of disease—are the true drivers of scientific discovery. Out of 33 antibodies that can be classified as primary, discovery-enabling antibodies, 25 of them are CST products—more than four times that of the company with the second-highest number. 

Let’s take a look at what CiteAb’s 2023 list of the top 10 most cited antibodies looks like with support reagents removed:

 

Top Cited Primary Antibodies

 
1 Phospho-Akt (Ser473) (D9E) XP® Rabbit mAb #4060 Cell Signaling Technology
2 Cleaved Caspase-3 (Asp175) Antibody #9661 Cell Signaling Technology
3 Phospho-p44/42 MAPK (Erk1/2) (Thr202/Tyr204) (D13.14.4E) XP® Rabbit mAb #4370 Cell Signaling Technology
4 Phospho-NF-κB p65 (Ser536) (93H1) Rabbit mAb #3033 Cell Signaling Technology
5 Akt Antibody #9272 Cell Signaling Technology
6 p44/42 MAPK (Erk1/2) (137F5) Rabbit mAb #4695 Cell Signaling Technology
7 NF-κB p65 (D14E12) XP® Rabbit mAb #8242 Cell Signaling Technology
8 Cleaved Caspase-3 (Asp175) (5A1E) Rabbit mAb #9664 Cell Signaling Technology
9 Anti-Ki67 antibody (ab15580) Abcam
10 Phospho-p44/42 MAPK (Erk1/2) (Thr202/Tyr204) Antibody #9101 Cell Signaling Technology
11 Akt (pan) (C67E7) Rabbit mAb #4691 Cell Signaling Technology
12 Anti-Ki67 antibody [SP6] ab16667 Abcam
13 p44/42 MAPK (Erk1/2) Antibody #9102 Cell Signaling Technology
14 Anti-NeuN Antibody, clone A60 MAB377 MilliporeSigma
15 Caspase-3 Antibody #9662 Cell Signaling Technology
16 Phospho-Akt (Ser473) Antibody #9271 Cell Signaling Technology
17 Phospho-Stat3 (Tyr705) (D3A7) XP® Rabbit mAb #9145 Cell Signaling Technology
18 Phospho-p38 MAPK (Thr180/Tyr182) (D3F9) XP® Rabbit mAb #4511 Cell Signaling Technology
19 Phospho-AMPKα (Thr172) (40H9) Rabbit mAb #2535 Cell Signaling Technology
20 Vimentin (D21H3) XP® Rabbit mAb #5741 Cell Signaling Technology

Table 1: Top Cited Primary Antibodies of 2023 based on the CiteAb top 100 research antibodies of 2023 list, excluding common loading controls and tags.

“It’s always interesting to look at the antibodies that rank highly on CiteAb’s list and imagine the research being done with them,” says Samuel Jensen, PhD, Associate Director of BioPharma Strategy at CST. “Of the CST primary antibodies on the list, many of them are for phosphorylated or cleaved proteins, which are typically used to detect determinative events and provide a readout of specific cellular processes or changes in cell state. These antibodies are the ‘star of the show,’ so to speak—they’re the ones that are truly helping to elucidate complex biological processes and bring us closer to life-saving therapeutics.” 

According to CiteAb, 9 of the top 10 research antibodies of 2023 are from CST

Similarly, the CST antibodies Vimentin (D21H3) XP® Rabbit mAb #5741 and E-Cadherin (24E10) Rabbit mAb #3195, both of which appear on the top 100 list, are also used to determine cell state, and are specifically important as a marker for when cancer cells become metastatic.

The Most Cited Antibody of All Time

So this brings us back to our original question: “What is the most cited antibody of all time?” If you guessed that it's our Anti-rabbit IgG, HRP-linked Antibody #7074, you’re right. This secondary antibody has been the top cited antibody worldwide for 7 years, resulting in a grand total of over 16,000 citations as of 2023. 

What about the most cited primary antibody of all time? Of course, that’s CST Phospho-Akt (Ser473) (D9E) XP® Rabbit mAb #4060, which has held either the second or third top spot for 7 years and boasts over 11,000 citations.

Future Trends in the Antibody Reagent Market

When CST was founded 25 years ago, ATP loaded with radioactive 32P was the prevailing method for studying cellular signaling, and research in this critical area was painstakingly slow. By dramatically reducing the cost and effort required to access antibody technology for studying PTMs, CST transformed the research field, helping to usher in a new era of research.

Blog: CST Turns 25: Celebrating a Quarter Century of Antibodies & Innovation

Today, we offer over 13,500 stringently validated antibodies and high-quality reagents relevant to a wide range of research disciplines, and we’re proud to have so many more citations per antibody than any other company.

As we continue on our mission to advance science, our intention is to build on our success and claim an even larger share on the next CiteAb top 100 list. Critically, this will involve investing further time and resources into growing our primary antibody portfolio.

Alexandra Foley
Alexandra Foley
Alexandra is a scientific marketing writer at CST and the editor of the Lab Expectations blog.

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