title: Sensitivity of P504S/alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase (AMACR) immunohistochemistry for the detection of prostate carcinoma on stored needle biopsies.
abstract: Alpha methylacyl-CoA-racemase (AMACR), also known as P504S, has been widely used as a positive marker for the diagnosis of prostate carcinoma in clinical practice. The utility of this assay is highly dependent on the sensitivity of AMACR detection in routinely processed biopsies. It is common practice to store precut prostate biopsy sections. Hence, it is important to determine the effect on the immunoreactive of P504S/AMACR in stored, unstained glass slides as compared with freshly cut sections of paraffin-embedded tissue. The purpose of this study was to determine the sensitivity of AMACR immunostaining for the detection of prostate carcinoma on stored needle biopsies. A total of 63 prostate biopsies with prostate carcinoma were transferred onto glass slides, baked, and stored for 1.6 to 9.2 months. The Gleason scores were 3+3(6) (n=40) including 10 small focal carcinomas (< or = 1.0 mm), 4+3(7) (n=16), and 4+4(8) or higher (n=7). The slides were then stained with a monoclonal antibody to P504S, and the staining intensity was compared with sections cut from the same blocks just prior to immunostaining, without an intervening storage period. There was no loss of sensitivity of AMACR for prostate adenocarcinoma, regardless of the length of the storage interval. The sensitivity was preserved and was independent of Gleason scores. The sensitivity of AMACR for small foci of adenocarcinoma was also not affected by the length of storage. Overall, stored slides had no observable increase in nonspecific background staining over freshly cut sections. These results indicate that the time interval between mounting and staining does not affect the sensitivity of the AMACR immunohistochemistry (IHC) stain in the detection of prostate cancer even with small foci of carcinoma on needle biopsies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Vijay K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Vanguri
authors.forename: Bruce A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Woda
authors.forename: Zhong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D011467:Prostate / Q000473:pathology*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D019998:Racemases and Epimerases / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D019998:Racemases and Epimerases; C108352:alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase