Miniature tissue microarrays for HercepTest standardisation and analysis
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Published on: December 5, 2017
C Gulmann1, P Loring, A O'Grady
1Department of Pathology, Beaumont Hospital and Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin 9, Ireland. cgulmann@rcsi.ie
Aims:
To assess the practicality of using a miniature tissue microarray (TMA) with several examples of each HercepTest score from 0 to 3+ as a control for routine HercepTest immunohistochemistry.
Methods:
A TMA was constructed from in house cases of breast cancer where HercepTest on the whole sections showed scores 0, 1+, 2+, or 3+. The TMA, which measured 5 x 5 mm, was designed with four rows (each representing scores 0, 1+, 2+, and 3+), with five 0.6 mm cores from separate cases. In all, 20 individual cases were represented and the TMA took less than one hour to construct. Fifty sequential 4 microm sections were cut from the TMA to maximise the number of available sections. They were stored at 4 degrees C for 1-270 days and when a case needed HercepTest staining the section was added to the TMA tissue control slide.
Results:
All slides contained tissue spots and immunohistochemical staining was consistent throughout the time period.
Conclusions:
The miniature TMA with examples of all HercepTest scores described here is an ideal tissue control and can be used as a visual reference for scoring a case. Slides stored at 4 degrees C could be used for up to 270 days.
