“Liquid Morphology”: Immunochemical Analysis of Proteins... : Applied Immunohistochemistry & Molecular Morphology (original) (raw)
Review Article
Immunochemical Analysis of Proteins Extracted From Formalin-fixed Paraffin-embedded Tissues
Combining Proteomics With Immunohistochemistry
*Institut fur Pathologie, Technische Universitat Munchen, Trogerstrasse, Munchen, Germany
†Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Results in this manuscript are supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), grant number 01GR0805 and by a US National Cancer Institute Grant to Calibrant Biosystems and the University of Southern California under the Innovative Molecular Analysis Technologies (IMAT) program—Validation and Quantification of FFPE Antigen Retrieval by Proteome Analysis (5 R4 2CA122715-04).
Reprints: Clive R. Taylor, MD, D.Phil, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, HMR 311, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (e-mail: [email protected]).
Received July 12, 2010
Accepted August 1, 2010
Applied Immunohistochemistry & Molecular Morphology 19(1):p 1-9, January 2011. | DOI: 10.1097/PAI.0b013e3181f50883
Abstract
Currently there are extensive efforts, national and international, to define the parameters affecting biomarker expression and stability to integrate this knowledge into diagnostic and therapeutic decisions, in effect to determine accurately and reliably which patients are likely to benefit from new targeted therapies, and which patients will not. Although challenging, efforts are being made to improve standardization of the preanalytical phase in hospitals. The introduction of guidelines for fixation and sample processing may improve molecular characterization of tissues to some degree. However, the authors believe that these approaches are likely to fall short because of the complexity of the problem, the diversity of personnel and institutions involved, and formidable issues of logistics and expense on a national or worldwide basis. Therefore, an alternative approach is proposed, specifically that the identification of biomarkers (quantifiable internal reference standards) that serve as indicators of tissue quality for both immunohistochemistry and protein microarrays, will improve the quality and reproducibility of in-vitro molecular diagnostic tests, and further may serve as a basis for precise quantification of analytes (proteins) in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues. Successful development and application of this approach would assure that protein biomarker profiles determined by proteomics or immunohistochemistry are related to the disease of the patient and not to vagaries of tissue processing.
© 2011 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.