乳腺癌中EGFR蛋白表达和基因扩增的检测结果比较

目的:比较免疫组织化学技术检测乳腺癌中EGFR蛋白表达和荧光原位杂交检测EGFR基因扩增的结果的符合率,为EGFR靶向治疗病例的选择提供依据。方法:随机选取2005年1月到2011年12月冷水江市人民医院和湖南省肿瘤医院病理科的147例乳腺癌档案病例,采用免疫组织化学技术检测乳腺癌组织中EGFR蛋白表达,荧光原位杂交检测EGFR的基因扩增,比较两种方法阳性结果的符合率。结果:免疫组化染色结果显示EGFR在原发性和转移性乳腺癌中的阳性表达率分别为85%(105/123)和79%1(9/24),两组比较无显著差异(P0.05)。FISH检测结果显示原发性和转移性乳腺癌中分别有12%(15/123)和8%(2/24)存在EGFR基因扩增,两组比较结果无显著差异(P0.05)。所有存在EGFR基因扩增的原发性和转移性乳腺癌的EGFR免疫组织化学结果均为阳性。在原发性和转移性乳腺癌中,免疫组化阳性和基因扩增程度间呈显著正相关(P0.05),但免疫组化结果预测基因扩增的特异性较低。结论:免疫组织化学检测EGFR只能作为EGFR靶向治疗病例选择的初步筛选,进一步进行荧光原位杂交检测EGFR基因扩增是必须的。     

乳腺癌中EGFR蛋白表达和基因扩增的检测结果比较

目的：比较免疫组织化学技术检测乳腺癌中EGFR蛋白表达和荧光原位杂交检测EGFR基因扩增的结果的符合率,为EGFR靶向治疗病例的选择提供依据。方法：随机选取2005年1月到2011年12月冷水江市人民医院和湖南省肿瘤医院病理科的147例乳腺癌档案病例,采用免疫组织化学技术检测乳腺癌组织中EGFR蛋白表达,荧光原位杂交检测EGFR的基因扩增,比较两种方法阳性结果的符合率。结果：免疫组化染色结果显示EGFR在原发性和转移性乳腺癌中的阳性表达率分别为85%（105/123）和79%1（9/24）,两组比较无显著差异（P〉0.05）。FISH检测结果显示原发性和转移性乳腺癌中分别有12%（15/123）和8%（2/24）存在EGFR基因扩增,两组比较结果无显著差异（P〉0.05）。所有存在EGFR基因扩增的原发性和转移性乳腺癌的EGFR免疫组织化学结果均为阳性。在原发性和转移性乳腺癌中,免疫组化阳性和基因扩增程度间呈显著正相关（P〈0.05）,但免疫组化结果预测基因扩增的特异性较低。结论：免疫组织化学检测EGFR只能作为EGFR靶向治疗病例选择的初步筛选,进一步进行荧光原位杂交检测EGFR基因扩增是必须的。     

Standardization in immunohistochemistry: the role of antigen retrieval in molecular morphology

Molecular morphology seeks to integrate the traditional morphologic criteria of surgical pathology with immunohistochemical and in situ hybridization techniques that allow demonstration of a variety of molecules, proteins, RNA and DNA in a tissue section. While immunohistochemistry has proven to be successful for demonstrating lineage related biomarkers of value for diagnosis and classification of tumors, concerns have been raised periodically about validation of reagents, overall reproducibility of the staining method, and interpretation of results. These concerns have been heightened by the burgeoning interest in prognostic markers, where the question extends beyond a relatively simple positive or negative result to an absolute need for quantification of the staining result; not only is it positive, but how much is there? In this presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Biological Stain Commission in June, 2005, I advocate a total test approach that requires systematic attention to pre-analytic, analytic, and post-analytic issues. The approach encompasses all aspects of test performance from specimen acquisition, through fixation, antigen retrieval, processing, staining, interpretation, and reporting of results. A similar systematic approach also may be adopted for in situ hybridization methods, which have performance requirements that in many ways parallel immunohistochemistry.     

miRNA Expression Analyses in Prostate Cancer Clinical Tissues

A critical challenge in prostate cancer (PCa) clinical management is posed by the inadequacy of currently used biomarkers for disease screening, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. In recent years, microRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as promising alternate biomarkers for prostate cancer diagnosis and prognosis. However, the development of miRNAs as effective biomarkers for prostate cancer heavily relies on their accurate detection in clinical tissues. miRNA analyses in prostate cancer clinical specimens is often challenging owing to tumor heterogeneity, sampling errors, stromal contamination etc. The goal of this article is to describe a simplified workflow for miRNA analyses in archived FFPE or fresh frozen prostate cancer clinical specimens using a combination of quantitative real-time PCR (RT-PCR) and in situ hybridization (ISH). Within this workflow, we optimize the existing methodologies for miRNA extraction from FFPE and frozen prostate tissues and expression analyses by Taqman-probe based miRNA RT-PCR. In addition, we describe an optimized method for ISH analyses formiRNA detection in prostate tissues using locked nucleic acid (LNA)- based probes. Our optimized miRNA ISH protocol can be applied to prostate cancer tissue slides or prostate cancer tissue microarrays (TMA).     

Protein unlocking procedures of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues: application to MALDI-TOF imaging MS investigations

Archival formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues are a powerful tool for examining the clinical course of diseases. These specimens represent an incredible mine of valuable clinical and biological information for proteomic investigation. MALDI-TOF imaging MS (MALDI-IMS) is a protein profiling technique which enables the direct sampling of histological section; however, the quality of molecular data are strongly influenced by the tissue preparation condition. In fact, in previous years most of the studies employing such a technological platform have been conducted using cryo-preserved tissues. We have developed an in vitro approach using "tissue surrogate" samples in order to explore different protein unlocking procedures which might enable a suitable recovery of polypeptides for MS analysis. The developed protocols have been compared both by MALDI-TOF MS and nLC-MS(E) analysis either on surrogate samples or on FFPE specimen from human breast cancer. The collected evidence has been applied for the preparation of FFPE tissue sections following MALDI-IMS analysis. Our results outline the possibility to obtain valuable peptide mass spectra profiles form FFPE preparations by applying a combined two steps procedure of heat induced antigen retrieval (HIAR) in presence of EDTA and on target trypsin hydrolysis. A multivariate statistical evaluation is presented and discussed according to molecular spatial distributions and tissue morphology.     

4FISH-IF,a Four-Color Dual-Gene FISH Combined with p63 Immunofluorescence to Evaluate NKX3.1 and MYC Status in Prostate Cancer

NKX3.1 allelic loss and MYC amplification are common events during prostate cancer progression and have been recognized as potential prognostic factors in prostate cancer after radical prostatectomy or precision radiotherapy. We have developed a 4FISH-IF assay (a dual-gene fluorescence in situ hybridization combined with immunofluorescence) to measure both NKX3.1 and MYC status on the same slide. The 4FISH-IF assay contains four probes complementary to chromosome 8 centromere, 8p telomere, 8p21, and 8q24, as well as an antibody targeting the basal cell marker p63 visualized by immunofluorescence. The major advantages of the 4FISH-IF include the distinction between benign and malignant glands directly on the 4FISH-IF slide and the control of truncation artifact. Importantly, this specialized and innovative combined multiprobe and immunofluorescence technique can be performed on diagnostic biopsy specimens, increasing its clinical relevance. Moreover, the assay can be easily performed in a standard clinical molecular pathology laboratory. Globally, the use of 4FISH-IF decreases analytic time, increases confidence in obtained results, and maintains the tissue morphology of the diagnostic specimen.     

Diagnostic nucleic acid hybridizations for infectious diseases

The use of nucleic acid hybridization techniques has expanded into many areas, including studies of gene structure and function, routine diagnosis of human, animal and plant diseases, and also forensic science. In situ hybridization is one of the techniques currently available for nucleic acid hybridization and has some distinct advantages compared with standard techniques such as dot-blot, Southern or Northern hybridization, in which the histological structure is lost during extraction of nucleic acids. On the other hand, immunohistochemical staining is one branch of histochemistry that has received considerable attention in recent years as a very sensitive method for localization of specific proteins and other antigenic macromolecules within tissues and cells. This technique has also been widely used for clinical diagnosis and in various fields of research in medical science and biology. Automation of colorimetric in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry would greatly contribute to the ease of introducing these techniques for routine pathological diagnosis and would improve the reproducibility of the assay. In this review, author will describe the development of an automated method for in situ hybridization and immunohistochemical staining using an automatic machine for both procedures.     

In Situ Hybridization at the Electron Microscopic Level Using a Bromodeoxyuridine Labeled DNA Probe

A bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) labeled DNA probe was used for in situ hybridization at the electron microscopic (EM) level. A BrdU labeled DNA probe was hybridized in situ to cryostat sections of paraformaldehyde fixed OCT compound embedded cultured HL-60 cells. After hybridization, some sections were incubated with FITC-conjugated anti-BrdU monoclonal antibody for fluorescence microscopy (FM). and others were embedded in Quetol for electron microscopy (EM). The ultrathin sections of Quetol-embedded specimens were incubated with the anti-BrdU monoclonal antibody and the immunoglobulin: gold colloid. In both FM and EM studies, the signals were concentrated in the rough endoplasmic reticulum. Moreover, some label was arranged from the nucleus to the cytoplasm at the EM level. Relatively simple methods using the BrdU labeled DNA probe for the detection of the defined nucleic acid sequence with reasonable tissue preservation and high resolution are described here. This method may be useful for developmental and disease related studies of specific mRNA in cells and tissues.     

Localization of the porcine growth hormone gene to chromosome 12pl.2 p1–5

Summary
The gene encoding the porcine growth hormone (GH) has been localized to the q-arm of chromosome 12 using high-resolution R-banded chromosomes for in situ hybridization. We report here the localization of GH on the p-arm of this chromosome when using in situ hybridization on high-resolution G-banded chromosomes. Sequential Q- and R-banding show that this discrepancy is caused by a reversed orientation of chromosome 12 in the R-banded high-resolution karyotype published by Rønne et al. (1987) and the G-banded standard karyotype.     

Standardization in immunohistochemistry: the role of antigen retrieval in molecular morphology

In performing in situ hybridizations, nonisotopic nucleic acid labeling coupled with colorimetric detection offers a safer, easier and more rapid alternative to using radioactively labeled nucleic acid probes and microscopic autoradiography. Whole mount in situ hybridization is also advantageous, because many samples can be processed identically and the reduced handling of specimens greatly reduces the risk of exposing tissues to RNase(s). The thickness of whole mount specimens, however, often prevents accurate determination of sites of expression within specific tissues. Although post-hybridization embedding and sectioning is a solution to this problem, the precipitate formed following the common colorimetric detection procedure is soluble in the organic solvents used for dehydration prior to embedding. We have developed a dehydration and embedding procedure that takes advantage of the compatibility of L.R. White^® resin containing 10% (v/v) polyethylene glycol 400, and heat polymerized. The addition of the plasticizer allows L.R. White^® embedded tissues to be sectioned at 10 μm providing excellent signal contrast.     

孤儿受体TR3在小鼠睾丸中的定位和表达

本文采用原位杂交和免疫组织化学技术,观察孤儿受体ＴＲ３及其ｍＲＮＡ在小鼠睾丸中的表达及细胞定位。结果表明,在小鼠睾丸中有显著量的孤儿受体ＴＲ３ ｍＲＮＡ和蛋白表达,其表达量在不同曲细精管有明显的差异;孤儿受体ＴＲ３蛋白主要定位于生精细胞,其ｍＲＮＡ在生精细胞特异表达,主要在精原细胞和发育早期的初级精母细胞表达,提示孤儿受体ＴＲ３在小鼠曲细精管精子发生的早期阶段中起着调控作用。     

Regional expression of P2Y4 receptors in the rat central nervous system

P2Y receptors are G protein-coupled receptors composed of eight known subunits (P2Y_{1, 2, 4, 6, 11, 12, 13, 14}), which are involved in different functions in neural tissue. The present study investigates the expression pattern of P2Y₄ receptors in the rat central nervous system (CNS) using immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. The specificity of the immunostaining has been verified by preabsorption, Western blot, and combined use of immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. Neurons expressing P2Y₄ receptors were distributed widely in the rat CNS. Heavy P2Y₄ receptor immunostaining was observed in the magnocellular neuroendocrine neurons of the hypothalamus, red nucleus, pontine nuclei, mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus, motor trigeminal nucleus, ambiguous nucleus, inferior olive, hypoglossal nucleus, and dorsal motor vagus nucleus. Both neurons and astrocytes express P2Y₄ receptors. P2Y₄ receptor immunostaining signals were mainly confined to cell bodies and dendrites of neurons, suggesting that P2Y₄ receptors are mainly involved in regulating postsynaptic events. In the hypothalamus, all the vasopressin (VP) and oxytocin (OT) neurons and all the orexin A neurons were immunoreactive for P2Y₄ receptors. All the neurons expressing P2Y₄ receptors were found to express N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor 1 (NR1). These data suggest that purines and pyrimidines might be involved in regulation of the release of the neuropeptides VP, OT, and orexin in the rat hypothalamus via P2Y₄ receptors. Further, the physiological and pathophysiological functions of the neurons may operate through coupling between P2Y₄ receptors and NR1.     

Locked nucleic acid flow cytometry-fluorescence in situ hybridization (LNA flow-FISH): a method for bacterial small RNA detection

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is a powerful technique that is used to detect and localize specific nucleic acid sequences in the cellular environment. In order to increase throughput, FISH can be combined with flow cytometry (flow-FISH) to enable the detection of targeted nucleic acid sequences in thousands of individual cells. As a result, flow-FISH offers a distinct advantage over lysate/ensemble-based nucleic acid detection methods because each cell is treated as an independent observation, thereby permitting stronger statistical and variance analyses. These attributes have prompted the use of FISH and flow-FISH methods in a number of different applications and the utility of these methods has been successfully demonstrated in telomere length determination, cellular identification and gene expression, monitoring viral multiplication in infected cells, and bacterial community analysis and enumeration. Traditionally, the specificity of FISH and flow-FISH methods has been imparted by DNA oligonucleotide probes. Recently however, the replacement of DNA oligonucleotide probes with nucleic acid analogs as FISH and flow-FISH probes has increased both the sensitivity and specificity of each technique due to the higher melting temperatures (T(m)) of these analogs for natural nucleic acids. Locked nucleic acid (LNA) probes are a type of nucleic acid analog that contain LNA nucleotides spiked throughout a DNA or RNA sequence. When coupled with flow-FISH, LNA probes have previously been shown to outperform conventional DNA probes and have been successfully used to detect eukaryotic mRNA and viral RNA in mammalian cells. Here we expand this capability and describe a LNA flow-FISH method which permits the specific detection of RNA in bacterial cells (Figure 1). Specifically, we are interested in the detection of small non-coding regulatory RNA (sRNA) which have garnered considerable interest in the past few years as they have been found to serve as key regulatory elements in many critical cellular processes. However, there are limited tools to study sRNAs and the challenges of detecting sRNA in bacterial cells is due in part to the relatively small size (typically 50-300 nucleotides in length) and low abundance of sRNA molecules as well as the general difficulty in working with smaller biological cells with varying cellular membranes. In this method, we describe fixation and permeabilzation conditions that preserve the structure of bacterial cells and permit the penetration of LNA probes as well as signal amplification steps which enable the specific detection of low abundance sRNA (Figure 2).     

Identification of 5-Bromo-2’-Deoxyuridine-Labeled Cells during Mouse Spermatogenesis by Heat-Induced Antigen Retrieval in Lectin Staining and Immunohistochemistry

DNA replication occurs during S-phase in spermatogonia and preleptotene spermatocytes during spermatogenesis. 5-Bromo-2’-deoxyuridine (BrdU) is incorporated into synthesized DNA and is detectable in the nucleus by immunohistochemistry (IHC). To identify BrdU-labeled spermatogenic cells, the spermatogenic stages must be determined by visualizing acrosomes and detecting cell type-specific marker molecules in the seminiferous tubules. However, the antibody reaction with BrdU routinely requires denaturation of the DNA, which is achieved by pretreating tissue sections with hydrochloric acid; however, this commonly interferes with further histochemical approaches. Therefore, we examined optimal methods for pretreating paraffin sections of the mouse testis to detect incorporated BrdU by an antibody and, at the same time, visualize acrosomes with peanut agglutinin (PNA) or detect several marker molecules with antibodies. We found that the use of heat-induced antigen retrieval (HIAR), which consisted of heating at 95C in 20 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 9.0) for 15 min, was superior to the use of 2 N hydrochloric acid for 90 min at room temperature in terms of the quality of subsequent PNA-lectin histochemistry with double IHC for BrdU and an appropriate stage marker protein. With this method, we identified BrdU-labeled spermatogenic cells during mouse spermatogenesis as A1 spermatogonia through to preleptotene spermatocytes.     

Spatial expression patterns of skin-type antifreeze protein in winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus) epidermis following metamorphosis

Two isotypes of Type I antifreeze protein (AFP), the liver-type and the skin-type, have been described from adult winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus). Although the liver-type AFP has been well studied, the skin-type has just begun to be characterized. It appears to have a wide tissue distribution, be expressed constitutively, and the absence of a signal sequence suggests it is active intracellularly. The current study was designed to examine the onset of skin-type AFP expression during the thickening of the epidermis at metamorphosis from both the nucleic acid and protein levels. The epidermis appeared as a thin layer overlying a thickened dermis at metamorphosis and showed a gradual increase in thickness through the first fall and winter. The onset of skin-type antifreeze expression occurred in conjunction with this epidermal thickening. In situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry showed a distribution of mRNA and skin-type AFP specific for the epidermis and epidermal pavement cells. The AFP immunoproduct showed a distribution intimate with the pavement cell membrane and through the interstitial spaces. This distribution suggests that the AFP may be important in slowing ice crystal formation in these interstitial regions and thus reducing cellular damage due to osmotic imbalance.     

P2X_3受体在感觉神经节的表达

用免疫组织化学与原位杂交研究 P2 X3受体在背根神经节、三叉神经节和结状神经节的分布。结果显示 :1.原位杂交 :在三种感觉神经节中 ,95 %左右的神经节细胞为 P2 X3m RNA阳性 ,中、小型神经节细胞的杂交信号一般要比大型的神经节细胞强一些。 2 .免疫组织化学 :免疫组织化学结果与原位杂交结果基本一致。此外 ,在各神经节内 ,均显示出许多P2 X3免疫阳性神经纤维 ,在足掌表皮也显示许多 P2 X3免疫反应阳性纤维。结果提示 :P2 X3不仅参与机体的痛觉的形成 ,还可能参与其它感觉 ,如本体感觉等的形成     

Ulex Europaeus Agglutinin-1 Is a Reliable Taste Bud Marker for In Situ Hybridization Analyses

Taste signals are received by taste buds. To better understand the taste reception system, expression patterns of taste-related molecules are determined by in situ hybridization (ISH) analyses at the histological level. Nevertheless, even though ISH is essential for determining mRNA expression, few taste bud markers can be applied together with ISH. Ulex europaeus agglutinin-1 (UEA-1) appears to be a reliable murine taste bud marker based on immunohistochemistry (IHC) analyses. However, there is no evidence as to whether UEA-1 can be used for ISH. Thus, the present study evaluated UEA-1 using various histochemical methods, especially ISH. When lectin staining was performed after ISH procedures, UEA-1 clearly labeled taste cellular membranes and distinctly indicated boundaries between taste buds and the surrounding epithelial cells. Additionally, UEA-1 was determined as a taste bud marker not only when used in single-colored ISH but also when employed with double-labeled ISH or during simultaneous detection using IHC and ISH methods. These results suggest that UEA-1 is a useful marker when conducting analyses based on ISH methods. To clarify UEA-1 staining details, multi-fluorescent IHC (together with UEA-1 staining) was examined, resulting in more than 99% of cells being labeled by UEA-1 and overlapping with KCNQ1-expressing cells.     

Specific cytogenetic labeling of bovine spermatozoa bearing X or Y chromosomes using fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH)

X and Y specific probes were identified in order to apply the fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) technique to bovine spermatozoa. For Y chromosome detection, the BRY4a repetitive probe, covering three quarters of the chromosome, was used. For X chromosome detection, a goat Bacterial Artificial Chromosome (BAC) specific to the X chromosome of bovine and goats and giving a strong FISH signal was used. Each probe labeled roughly 45% of sperm cells. The hybridization method will be useful for evaluating the ratio of X- and Y- bearing spermatozoa in a sperm sample and consequently can be used to evaluate the efficiency of sperm sorting by different techniques such as flow cytometry.