TITLE:
A Combination of Antigen Retrieval Methods Significantly Enhances the Unmasking of Tedious Antigens of Lymphangiogenesis and Angiogenesis in Canine Mammary Tumour
AUTHORS:
Parmeet Pal Singh, Naresh Kumar Sood
KEYWORDS:
Angiogenesis, Antigen Retrieval, Canine Mammary Tumour, Immunohistochemistry, Lymphangiogenesis
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biosciences and Medicines,
Vol.5 No.12,
December
5,
2017
ABSTRACT: The use of immunohistochemical techniques has enhanced the diagnostic intensities in pathology. The sensitivity and specificity of any immunohistochemical protocol mainly depends on the ability to unmask antigen from formalin fixed tissue. Various combinations of antigen retrieval protocols have been used to unmask antigen efficiently but none has been established as a flawless one. These protocols either have one or the other lacunae, lacking repeatability under same conditions. In our study, we tried to develop a standardized immunohistochemical protocol for the identification of blood and lymphatic vessels in tissue sections of canine mammary tumour (CMT) using recently identified markers. The combined effects of antigen retrieval (AR) methods including pH shock by Heat-induced epitope retrieval (HIER) and Protease-induced epitope retrieval (PIER) were found highly effective in retrieval of tedious antigens of lymphangiogenesis and angiogenesis. The use of combined antigen retrieval technique for the unmasking of antigens from over fixed, old formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) canine mammary tumour sections resulted in efficient unmasking of epitopes when compared with the individual antigen retrieval methods.