Construction of High-Density Tissue Microarrays at Low Cost by Using Self-Made Manual Microarray Kits and Recipient Paraffin Blocks

Abstract

BackgroundAdvances of tissue microarray (TMA) technology have enabled simultaneous in situ analysis of biomarker expression in a large number of archived pathology specimens. However, the relatively high cost of TMA construction may hamper many researchers from using this essential tool of modern pathology research. We discuss methods for making TMA kits and recipient blocks for manual construction of high-density TMAs at low cost.MethodsOrdinary cannula piercing needles, hypodermic needles, bone marrow biopsy needles, metallic ink cartridges of ballpoint pens, and disposable skin biopsy punches were used to construct self-made manual TMA kits. The recipient blocks were manufactured by boring holes in the conventional bare paraffin blocks. A mini electric hand drill and a microcompound table assembled on a drill stand were used to maximize the capacity of the recipient blocks.ResultsBy using TMA kits made from cannula piercing needles (16- and 18-gauge), it was possible to construct TMAs with 1 mm×140 cores, 0.6 mm×320 cores, 2 mm×70 cores, 3 mm×35 cores, and 5 mm×12 cores. The capacity of the recipient blocks could be dramatically increased by drilling holes.ConclusionsConstruction of TMAs using self-made TMA kits is an inexpensive alternative to construction of TMAs using commercial devices.

Fast and inexpensive self-made tissue microarray for immunohistochemical and in situ hybridization studies: examples with bladder cancer

“…Cost neglible Choi et al [19] HER2 evaluation, according to ASCO-CAP HER2 Test Guideline Recommendations for breast cancer,[9] revealed overexpression in 10% of tumor samples which is in concordance with results reported by Lae et al, [10] who has documented an incidence of 9,2% in a series of 1005…”

“…(Table 1). [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] However, in most of cases, the development of these tecnhniques is related to personal laboratory technicians' skillfulness or require of specialized instruments, making the production of TMAs more laborious. Author's objective was to overcome this problem by offering both an inexpensive and flexible method that could be modified according to the requirements of the lab, with respect to the number of cores in one block.…”

Tissue Microarray

“…A relatively simple and inexpensive alternative is the use of lab-made recipient paraffin blocks and ordinary cannula-piercing needles, skin biopsy punches, and bone marrow biopsy needles (Choi et al, 2012). However this alternative is time-consuming, and for large sample investigations, automated or semiautomatic arrayers may ultimately be less expensive.…”

In-house Manual Construction of High-Density and High-Quality Tissue Microarrays by Using Homemade Recipient Agarose-Paraffin Blocks

“…These are critical but inevitable technical obstacles to using self-made tissue punches and conventional recipient paraffin blocks for in-house manual construction of high-density TMAs. We also experienced these problems when we first used self-made tissue punches made of cannula-piercing needles, disposable skin biopsy punches and cannula of bone marrow biopsy needle kits to construct large-format TMAs 11. The problems are mainly caused by incomplete integration of the tissue cores from donor blocks into the paraffin of the recipient block.…”