Confusion between CCL4 and CCLAL1: An example to bear in mind when using third-party reagents

Is a commercial product always reliable? Using CCL4 and CCL4L1 chemokines as a model, this work shows important changes in the sequences of a commercial product. The detected confusions in CCL4 and CCL4L1 can entail important consequences, particularly in experiments aimed at defining functional activities or cellular effects of these molecules. We point to these errors to alert researchers of their responsibility in considering all the existing data on a specific molecule obtained from a commercial source, even leading to question the results that could be obtained by their experimental use. These sequence differences are always important, but even more so when major suppliers are involved, since wrong interpretations can be perpetuated in a particular research field.