Optimization of Tissue Microarrays from Banked Human Formalin-Fixed Paraffin Embedded Tissues in the Cancer Research Setting

Abstract

The tissue microarray (TMA) is a powerful tool for cancer biomarker discovery and validation. Tens to hundreds of samples can be evaluated simultaneously for molecular marker status at the protein or nucleic acid level. Although fully automated or semiautomated technologies for TMA creation provide excellent precision with respect to core transfer, they do not obviate the need for technical expertise to successfully generate highquality TMA blocks and derivative sections. We have leveraged our expanding bank of formalin-fixed paraffin embedded paired tumor and normal tissues in our academic cancer center to provide a rich source of input material for cancer research TMAs. In this study, we report a stepwise optimization of TMA generation parameters, including paraffin wax selection, tempering protocol, and sectioning conditions, to achieve the best ribbon sectioning.

Optimization of tissue microarray technique for breast cancer patients: a short communication

“…Numerous tissue samples from several types of cancer can be examined simultaneously on one slide. This process preserves tissue as well as reduces the reagent cost of detecting a single biomarker 9 . TMAs can be used in many types of human cancer investigations, including breast cancer 1 , prostate cancer 10 , and colon cancer 11 .…”

“…After testing three sets of conditions, we determined that the optimal protocol involved 24 h of incubation at 43°C, then cooling down to 4°C for 1 h. Our optimal temperature and duration were different from a previous study; Sexton et al . 9 showed that the optimal protocol for core integration with the template block is performing repetitive cycles of 1-h incubations at 37°C and 4°C, which was considered a time-consuming process 9 . This step is very necessary for the block preparation and successful sectioning.…”

Establishment of an Academic Tissue Microarray Platform as a Tool for Soft Tissue Sarcoma Research

“…erefore, for our TMA, all core annotations were reviewed by reference sarcoma pathologists. Next, variation can occur in localizing needle to punch tissue out based on the annotations on the H&E slides, and the shape of donor tissue may slightly deform during sections or heating/cooling of FFPE blocks [36]. To Sarcoma improve the precision of tissue retrieval, digital annotations and fully automated tissue microarrayer were applied for a better alignment between annotated images and donor blocks.…”