Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
When tissue antigens and antibodies get along: revisiting the technical aspects of immunohistochemistry--the red, brown, and blue technique.
- Journal:
- Veterinary pathology
- Year:
- 2014
- Authors:
- Ramos-Vara, J A & Miller, M A
- Affiliation:
- Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory and Department of Comparative Pathobiology · United States
Plain-English summary
This article discusses how a technique called immunohistochemistry (IHC), which helps identify diseases by looking at tissue samples, has evolved from just studying tumors to being useful for many different health issues. It highlights the importance of properly preparing and processing tissue samples, using the right methods to retrieve and detect specific proteins, and ensuring that tests are consistent and reliable across different labs. The review emphasizes that as IHC becomes more complex, it's crucial to standardize the entire process, from collecting samples to interpreting results, to improve accuracy and comparability. Overall, the article aims to enhance the effectiveness of IHC in diagnosing and understanding diseases.
Abstract
Once focused mainly on the characterization of neoplasms, immunohistochemistry (IHC) today is used in the investigation of a broad range of disease processes with applications in diagnosis, prognostication, therapeutic decisions to tailor treatment to an individual patient, and investigations into the pathogenesis of disease. This review addresses the technical aspects of immunohistochemistry (and, to a lesser extent, immunocytochemistry) with attention to the antigen-antibody reaction, optimal fixation techniques, tissue processing considerations, antigen retrieval methods, detection systems, selection and use of an autostainer, standardization and validation of IHC tests, preparation of proper tissue and reagent controls, tissue microarrays and other high-throughput systems, quality assurance/quality control measures, interpretation of the IHC reaction, and reporting of results. It is now more important than ever, with these sophisticated applications, to standardize the entire IHC process from tissue collection through interpretation and reporting to minimize variability among laboratories and to facilitate quantification and interlaboratory comparison of IHC results.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24129895/