Setting proteins free: progresses and achievements in proteomics of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues

Formalin fixation, followed by paraffin embedding, is long established as the standard procedure for the stabilization and preservation of tissue architecture, essential for enabling microscopic examination and long-term storage of samples. During the years, this has led to the generation of a worldwide repository of patient tissues with associated complete clinical records. As such, this represents a golden mine for all those attempting to identify proteomic signatures of disease, aimed to the understanding of pathological processes and to the identification of new biomarkers. However, access to this resource has been hampered by the stable cross-linked network generated on tissue molecules during formalin fixation. Recently, researchers have been actively working to overcome this limitation, reaching unexpected achievements. This review aims to discuss and compare the various strategies devised for extracting full-length proteins or peptides from fixed tissues, and to provide a general perspective on studies comparing matched fixed and fresh-frozen tissue proteomes, applying proteomic techniques for biomarker discovery from archival tissues, and attempting to exploit gel-based approaches. In addition, the concomitant progresses in understanding the impact of tissue processing variables and the extent and nature of formaldehyde-induced modifications are presented. In conclusion, the future perspectives and open challenges in this field are discussed.