STAINING Flashcards
What is the Direct staining method?
A labeled Ab of known specificity is used to identify Ag in patient tissue.
What is the Indirect staining method?
The patient’s serum is added to tissue sections containing known Ag to test the patient for the presence of Ab to those Ag. The patient’s serum can also be added to bacteria.
What is the Unlabeled/ Soluble Enzyme Immune Complex method?
A 3 step method involving a primary Ab, secondary Ab and a soluble enzyme-antienzyme complex.
What is the Avidin-biotin complex (ABC) method?
The primary Ab is followed by a secondary biotinylated Ab which bond irreversibly to Avidin and forms a complex.
What are three main benefits of the ABC method?
- There is low background staining
- Sensitivity can be up to 40X other immunoperoxidase methods
- Antibody may be used at higher dilutions than in other methods
What is polymeric detection?
The “gold standard” of IHC staining in which either a single strand (monomeric) or multiple strand (polymeric) molecules are fused with the secondary Ab which eliminates the need for ABC or patient serum. We did this in Vancouver.
Which detection system works better: monomeric or polymeric?
Monomeric, because there is increased sensitivity and Ab binding site penetration with single strand molecules. Turnaround time is also decreased.
What is the general procedure for polymeric detection?
Antibody-polymer-chromogen.
What neoplasm does BCL2 test for?
Follicular lymphoma
What neoplasm does CD117 test for?
Gastrointestinal stromal tumor
What neoplasm does CD15 test for?
Hodgkin’s lymphoma
Reed-Sternberg cells
What neoplasm does CD20 test for?
B cell lymphoma
What neoplasm does CD3 test for?
T cell lymphoma
What neoplasm does CK20 test for?
Colon carinoma
What neoplasm does Cytokeratin (Pankeratin) test for?
Carcinoma in general
What neoplasm does Desmin test for?
Leiomyoma (smooth muscle tumor, common in uterus)
What neoplasm does ER test for?
Breast carcinoma
What neoplasm does Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) test for?
Glioblastoma multiforme
What neoplasm does Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) test for?
Glioblastoma multiforme
What neoplasm does Gross Cystic Disease Fluid Protein (GCDFP-15) test for?
Breast ductal carcinoma
What neoplasm does HER2 test for?
Breast carcinoma
What neoplasm does HMB-45 test for?
Melanoma
What neoplasm does CD45 test for?
Lymphoma
What is another term for CD45?
Leukocyte common antigen
What neoplasm does Melan-A test for?
Melanoma
What neoplasm does PR test for?
Breast ductal carcinoma
What neoplasm does S100 test for?
Schwannoma
What neoplasm does Thyroid Transcription Factor (TTF1) test for?
Lung adenocarcinoma
What neoplasm does Thyroid Transcription Factor (TTF1) test for?
Lung adenocarcinoma
What neoplasm does Vimentin test for?
Seminoma
Over fixation
Define Quenching
Blocking of naturally occurring excess endogenous enzymes found within a cell.
ex: RBCs causing excessive background staining
Define Quenching
Blocking of naturally occurring excess endogenous enzymes found within a cell.
ex: RBCs causing excessive background staining
When is “Quenching” performed?
Beginning of procedure, after depar and antigen retrieval
What is the most notable exception to the “usual” Quenching protocol?
CD34 because it will be dissolved by the hydrogen peroxide.
It should be applied after the primary antibody and before the second antibody
What is the purpose of a primary antibody?
It’s an antibody that binds to antigens in the patient’s tissue
What is the purpose of a secondary antibody?
It binds to the primary antibody and becomes conjugated into a complex
ex: ABC method
What are the two different detection systems?
Biotin-advin (strep)
Polymer
Define flurophore?
Molecules that glow upon excitation with UV light
Define enzyme
Proteins that catalyze reactions
They convert soluble compounds into an insoluble deposited chromogen
Define substrate
Molecules that react with enzymes in order to activate them
Define chromogen
Get trapped by the reaction of an enzyme with its substrate
It is deposited at the antigen site
What are commonly employed reagents for Quenching peroxidase activity?
- Hydrogen peroxide in water/TBS/PBS
- Hydrogen peroxide in methanol
- Commerically prepared solutions (ex: UltraBlock, DEEB, BloxAll)
What are commonly employed reagents for Quenching Alkaline phosphatase activity?
- Levamisole in water
- Commercially prepared solutions
How are slides that are to be stained with reagents that employ horseradish peroxidase as the ‘label’ pre treated?
Incubated with weak solution of Hydrogen Peroxide (0.5-2%)
What is the scientific basis for “protein blocking”?
Inhibit non specific binding of charged elements to antibody reagents
This causes background staining
What are some commonly used protein blockers?
- Powdered milk/albumin
- BSA
- Casein (milk protein)
- Denatured mouse/rabbit/sheep/goat serum
What kind of tissues can immunofluorescence be performed on?
Paraffin-fixed tissues
Cell monolayers (such as ‘Cytospin’ and ‘ThinPrep’ preparations)
Frozen sections
What are the benefits of immunofluorescence?
- All of the fluorescent channels can easily be viewed separately and then merged to form a pseudocoloured image
- Very weak staining from the primary antibody can be observed in isolation
without any interference from other signals
What are the disadvantages of immunofluorescence?
- Tissue sections display a degree of autofluorescence due to various tissue components being naturally fluorescent,
such as collagen. - Formaldehyde fixation also increases the degree of autofluorescence
Autofluorescence can mask the signal from fluorescent reporter labels, making the interpretation of fluorescence results difficult
What is the disadvantage of using immunofluorescent?
Fluorescence from the chromophore fades with time, especially if it is exposed to excitation light for extended periods
The slides cannot be used to provide a permanent record of the staining
results and so photographic documentation/digitization of the tissue sections is necessary.
What is the advantage of using FITC?
FITC is an apple-green fluorescence and is
rarely seen as autofluorescence in mammalian tissues
What is the ideal fluorochrome to antibody ratio?
The ideal fluorochrome to antibody
ratio is between 2 and 4:1
How can cross-reactivity be checked in immunofluorescene?
Incubating the conjugated antibody directly on a tissue section containing human immunoglobulin and
examining the slide for fluorescence
What is the light source in fluorescent microscopes?
Mercury vapor
Xenon