Rapid methods of detecting the target molecule in immunohistology using a bioluminescence probe

We demonstrate a novel rapid direct detection method for immunohistochemistry, using a bioluminescent probe. An anti-CEA antibody-fused far-red bioluminescent protein can monitor the accumulation of this type of probe in tumour tissues. The bimodal spectrum (λ(max) = 460 and 675 nm) of this bioluminescent probe is extremely stable under different conditions of pH and ion concentration. The sensitivity of our bioluminescent labelling was at the same level of enzymatic labelling, e.g. peroxidase, as an indirect system. Our novel technique is simple and can shorten the pretreatment time of paraffin sections to around 30 min. The utility of our bioluminescent labelling covers all imaging in vitro, in vivo and ex vivo, suggesting that our antibody-fused bioluminescent probe has the potential to detect tumour antigens with a high sensitivity in routine immune histological examinations.