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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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 e 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:
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.”
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.
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 total of over 16,000 citations in 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.
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.
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.