Custom Anti-Lewis Y (Le^Y) Antibody Development for Tumor Signaling Pathway Research

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Tumor-Associated Carbohydrate Antigens (TACAs) are complex sugar molecules found on the surface of cancer cells. They are active molecules that help tumors grow, survive, and resist treatment. Developing effective antibodies against these glycan targets is a highly specialized skill. Creative Biolabs is a world leader in this area. We provide a robust and comprehensive Custom Anti-TACA Antibody Development Service to support scientists everywhere. Within this critical group of molecules, one TACA is a significant focus: the Lewis Y antigen (Le^Y). This antigen is present in high amounts on many types of tumors and is a key player in cancer signaling. The Lewis Y antigen directly influences the signals that instruct a cell to divide, remain alive, and proliferate. To study these pathways, researchers need exact tools. Standard antibodies often fail to work effectively against complex carbohydrates. This is where our expert service provides a clear solution. We specialize in creating custom, high-affinity, and high-specificity anti-Lewis Y antibody reagents built from the start to meet your exact research goals.

What is the Lewis Y Antigen?

The Lewis Y antigen (Le^Y) is a complex carbohydrate structure, or glycan. Specifically, it is a difucosylated tetrasaccharide. It belongs to the Lewis blood group system, which also includes related structures like Lewis A (Le^A), Lewis B (Le^B), and Lewis X (Le^X). These glycans are constructed by specialized enzymes known as glycosyltransferases. The structure of Le^Y is: Fucα1-2Galβ1-4[Fucα1-3]GlcNAcβ1-R. This complex structure is attached to either proteins (forming glycoproteins) or lipids (forming glycolipids) on the cell membrane and is highly expressed on the surface of various cancer cells, such as ovarian, breast, and gastric cancers, and is known to be involved in cell recognition, adhesion, and signal transduction processes.

Lewis Y structure and the structure of other blood group antigens. (OA Literature) Fig.1 The structure of Lewis Y and other blood group antigens.¹

Expression: Normal Tissue vs. Cancer

In healthy adult tissues, Le^Y expression is generally low. It is found on the surface of some red blood cells and specific epithelial cells, such as those lining the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts. Its presence is tightly controlled. The situation changes dramatically in cancer. Many human cancers, particularly epithelial carcinomas, exhibit a significant increase in Le^Y expression. This overexpression is a common feature in:

Breast cancer
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
Colorectal cancer
Ovarian cancer
Pancreatic cancer
Gastric cancer
Prostate cancer

The high expression of the Lewis Y antigen on tumors, combined with its low expression in most vital normal tissues, makes it a desirable target for cancer research and therapeutic development.

Le^Y's Functional Role in Tumor Signaling Pathways

The high expression of Le^Y on tumors is a functionally significant phenomenon. Decades of research have demonstrated that Le^Y actively contributes to the development of established malignant phenotypes. It does this by physically interacting with and modifying the function of key cell surface receptors that regulate cell growth and survival. Le^Y acts as a functional modulator. When attached to specific proteins, it alters their signaling capacity. This modification often results in the constitutive activation of growth-promoting pathways, leading to uncontrolled proliferation and enhanced cell survival. The Lewis Y antigen, therefore, acts as a critical modulator of the cancer cell surface. It contributes to a specific cell surface glycan profile that amplifies or potentiates multiple oncogenic pathways simultaneously.

Signaling Pathway	Key Proteins Modified by Le^Y	Resulting Cancer Phenotype
MAPK Pathway	EGFR, HER2	Increased Cell Proliferation
PI3K/Akt Pathway	EGFR, HER2, Integrins	Increased Cell Survival, Anti-Apoptosis
Cell Adhesion & Motility	Integrins	Increased Migration, Invasion, Metastasis
Drug Resistance	EGFR	Resistance to RTK Inhibitor Drugs

To dissect these pathways, researchers need a tool that can precisely identify Le^Y on specific proteins or block Le^Y's function in a live-cell assay. This is why a custom anti-Lewis Y antibody is essential.

Design Your Custom Anti-Lewis Y Antibody

Our Custom Solution: Precision-Engineered for Your Goal

Our custom anti-Lewis Y antibody development service is a collaborative process designed to deliver an antibody that is specifically tailored to your application. There are differences between off-the-shelf antibodies and our custom Ab products.

Feature	Off-the-Shelf Antibody	Our Custom-Developed Antibody
Specificity	Often unknown or poorly defined. High risk of cross-reactivity with other glycans.	We screen against a comprehensive panel of related glycans (Le^A, Le^B, Le^X, H-antigens) to ensure monospecificity.
Application	Validated for 1-2 typical applications (e.g., WB). Often fails in others (e.g., IHC, Flow).	We develop and validate antibodies for your specific assay (IHC, IF, Flow, Co-IP, ELISA, and Functional Assay).
Affinity	Variable and often uncharacterized.	Affinity optimized. We screen for high-affinity binders and provide you with complete characterization data.
Epitope	Unknown.	We can map the epitope and, for functional studies, specifically screen for antibodies that block a desired interaction.
Consistency	It can vary from batch to batch.	100% Consistent. For recombinant antibodies, the sequence is defined, ensuring zero batch-to-batch variation forever.
Supply	The supplier reserves the right to discontinue this product at any time.	You own the sequence or the cell line. Your supply is secure.

Our Custom Anti-Lewis Y Antibody Development Platform

We are experts in the discovery of anti-glycan antibodies. Our team combines deep knowledge of glycobiology with cutting-edge antibody engineering platforms. Our process is transparent, collaborative, and built for success.

Consultation and Antigen Design

Antibody Generation

Screening

Validation

Production & Delivery

Success starts with the immunogen. We work with you to understand your exact needs.

Tell us about your goal: Do you need to block a function? Do you need to target Le^Y on a specific protein? Do you need IHC-grade sensitivity?
We will design and synthesize the optimal Le^Y antigen for your project. This may be a synthetic Le^Y glycan conjugated to a carrier protein or a more complex cellular immunogen.

We employ two world-class platforms to generate a diverse pool of antibody candidates.

Monoclonal Hybridoma: The classic, proven method for generating robust mouse and rat monoclonal antibodies, ideal for many research and diagnostic uses.
Phage Display: A powerful in vitro technology. We screen vast libraries to find human or animal antibody fragments with the exact properties you need. This is the preferred platform for therapeutic development, as it produces recombinant, sequence-defined antibodies from day one.

This is our greatest strength. We do not just find binders; we find the right binders. All candidates undergo a rigorous screening cascade.

Primary Screen (ELISA): Identify all clones that bind to the Le^Y antigen.
Specificity Screen (Glycoarray Platform): This is critical. We test all positive hits against a panel of related glycans, including Le^A, Le^B, Le^X, H-type 1, H-type 2, and others.
Affinity Characterization: We measure the binding strength of your top candidates using SPR or BLI.

We deliver an antibody that is ready to use. We will validate the final, purified antibodies in the applications you requested.

Western Blot (WB)
Immunohistochemistry (IHC)
Immunofluorescence (IF)
Flow Cytometry
Co-Immunoprecipitation (Co-IP)
Functional Blocking Assays

We proceed with the scalable production of your validated antibody with the required formats. We deliver the final purified antibody, a comprehensive data report, and the hybridoma cell line or antibody sequence for a renewable supply.

Ready-to-Use Anti-Lewis Y (Le^Y) Products

We recognize that not every project requires a fully customized antibody. Sometimes, your research requires a high-quality, validated tool right now. For this reason, Creative Biolabs also offers a portfolio of excellent ready-to-use anti-Lewis Y antibody products. These reagents are in stock and validated for standard applications, allowing your experiments to start immediately. We invite you to explore our catalog of available anti-Lewis Y antibody products. These ready-to-use products are a fantastic option for many standard research projects. If you review this list and do not find the exact tool you need, our custom development team is here to help. We can design and develop a new antibody from scratch, tailored to meet your precise requirements.

Mouse Anti-Blood Group Lewis Y Monoclonal Antibody (AGM-091YJ)(CAT#: AGM-091YJ)
Online Inquiry

Host: Mouse

Antibody Isotype: IgM

Species Reactivity: Human

Application: WB, FC, IHC-P
Mouse Anti-Blood Group Lewis Y Monoclonal Antibody (AGM-092YJ)(CAT#: AGM-092YJ)
Online Inquiry

Host: Mouse

Antibody Isotype: IgG3

Species Reactivity: Human

Application: ELISA, FC, IHC, WB, TLC
Mouse Anti-Blood Group Lewis Y Monoclonal Antibody (AGM-093YJ)(CAT#: AGM-093YJ)
Online Inquiry

Host: Mouse

Antibody Isotype: IgG1

Species Reactivity: Human

Application: ELISA, IHC-P

Related Services

As a leader in glycan-targeted antibody engineering, Creative Biolabs provides a full suite of custom antibody development services for a wide range of Tumor-Associated Carbohydrate Antigens (TACAs) and histo-blood group antigens.

Service	Description
Custom Anti-Tn Antibody Development	We develop high-specificity antibodies against the Tn antigen. This simple TACA is a crucial target for the discovery of tumor biomarkers.
Custom Anti-sTn Antibody Development	This service focuses on creating custom antibodies targeting the Sialyl-Tn (sTn) antigen. sTn is a key glycan for immuno-oncology research.
Custom Anti-T/sT Antibody Development	We provide specialized development of antibodies for T and Sialyl-T antigens. These targets are critical for studying cancer cell adhesion.
Custom Anti-sLe^A (CA19-9) Antibody Development	This service creates high-affinity antibodies for Sialyl-Lewis A (sLe^A). This is the well-known CA19-9 marker, essential for pancreatic cancer research.
Custom Anti-sLe^X Antibody Development	We develop high-specificity antibodies against Sialyl-Lewis X (sLe^X). This antigen is a key player in cancer metastasis research.
Custom Anti-Lewis B (Le^B) Antibody Development	Our service generates antibodies targeting the Lewis B (Le^B) antigen. Le^B is crucial for blood group studies and research on host-pathogen interactions.

The Lewis Y antigen is one of the most critical and challenging targets in modern cancer research. Its role as a key modulator of oncogenic signaling pathways makes it a high-value target for investigation and drug development. To unlock the complex biology of Le^Y, a precise, reliable, and custom-built tool is necessary. Creative Biolabs is ready to partner with you. We will apply our expertise in glycobiology and antibody engineering to build the exact anti-Lewis Y antibody you need to achieve your breakthrough. Contact our scientific team today to discuss your project and discover how a custom antibody can accelerate your research into tumor signaling.

FAQs

How long does it take to develop a custom anti-Le^Y antibody?

A typical custom project timeline is about 4 to 6 months. This comprehensive process includes antigen design, immunization, screening, and final validation for your specific application. We will provide a detailed, personalized timeline for your project's precise goals.

Do I need to provide the Le^Y antigen myself?

No, you do not. Creative Biolabs has deep expertise in glycan chemistry. We will design, synthesize, and conjugate the optimal Le^Y immunogen for your project. We handle the entire process from antigen design to final antibody, ensuring the best possible immune response.

What do I need to provide to get started?

It's simple. You need to provide your research goals. We will schedule a technical consultation with our scientific team. They will discuss your specific needs (like the intended application, required specificity, or antibody format), and then we will prepare a formal project proposal for you.

What is the cost of a custom anti-Le^Y antibody project?

The cost varies based on the project's complexity, such as the screening strategy, validation requirements, and final deliverables. We provide a detailed, no-obligation quote after a technical consultation. Please contact our team to discuss your specific needs.

Reference:

Mironov, Alexander A., et al. "Mechanisms of Formation of Antibodies against Blood Group Antigens That Do Not Exist in the Body." International Journal of Molecular Sciences 24.20 (2023): 15044. Distributed under Open Access license CC BY 4.0, without modification. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms242015044

Supports

For Research Use Only. Not For Clinical Use.

Custom Anti-Lewis Y (LeY) Antibody Development for Tumor Signaling Pathway Research