IHC or
Immunohistochemistry usually means the process of detecting antigens in cells
of a tissue section by exploiting the principle of antibodies binding
specifically to antigens in biological tissues. Immunohistochemical staining
technique is widely used in the diagnosis of abnormal cells such as those found
in cancerous tumors. Immunohistochemical staining technique featured with its
high sensitivity and specificity, combining the morphological changes, functional
and metabolic changes, can directly detect the existence of some proteins and
polypeptides in tissue section, cell smear or cell climbing slice and can be accurate
to the subcellular structure. It can quantitatively analyze the tested
materials by integrating with computer image analysis system or laser scanning
microscopy techniques.
History
The
principle of IHC has been discovered since the 1930s, but it was till 1942 that
the first IHC study was reported and introduced to the world. In 1942, a
scientist named Coons et al firstly published works on IHC. His publication describing an immunofluorescence
technique for detecting cellular antigens in tissue sections marked the
beginning of immunohistochemistry. Since then, improvements have been
made in protein conjugation, tissue fixation methods, detection labels and
microscopy and IHC has now become a valuable tool in both diagnosis and
research of infectious and neoplastic diseases in a variety of animals.
Application
IHC is
used for disease diagnosis, drug development and biological research. With
specific tumor markers, physicians use IHC to diagnose a cancer as benign or
malignant, determine the stage and grade of a tumor, and identify the cell type
and origin of a metastasis to find the site of the primary tumor. IHC is also
used in drug development to test drug efficacy by detecting either the activity
or the up- or down-regulation of disease targets. IHC is also widely used in
basic research to understand the distribution and localization of biomarkers
and differentially expressed proteins in different parts of a biological
tissue.
Samples
are prepared on individual slides, or multiple samples can be arranged on a
single slide for comparative analysis, such as with tissue microarrays. IHC
slides can be processed and stained manually, while technological advances now
provide automation for high-throughput sample preparation and staining. Samples
can be viewed by either light or fluorescence microscopy, and advances in the
last 15 years have improved the ability to capture images, quantitate
multiparametric IHC data and increase the collection of that data through high
content screening.
About us
Creative Bioarray is a world provider of biochemical and
biotechnological products and services, and it has provided high quality IHC
data to research communities for many years. It has established well-tested SOPs in
optimizing IHC staining conditions, which include different combinations of
various tissue fixation processes, antigen retrieval conditions, antibody
titration options, incubation time and washing stringency. It also has
unparalleled bioinformatics support in performing IHC studies to facilitate research and
product development.
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