The cytokeratin antibody clone AE1 / AE3 is a broad-spectrum keratin cocktail. The clone AE1 recognizes the acidic type I cytokeratin subfamilies: 10, 14, 15, 16, 19. The clone AE3 detects the basic type II keratins: 1-8. The cocktail does not react with cytokeratin 17 and 18. The antibody cocktail detects epithelial cells from normal and abnormal human tissues. Therefore, it was used to characterize the source of various neoplasms and to study the distribution of keratinous cells in epithelia during normal and neoplastic development. This antibody is useful for distinguishing epithelial carcinomas from non-epithelial malignancies. In immunohistochemical studies, this antibody has been shown to be a useful marker for the majority of human cancers.

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