New tissue microarray technology for analyses of gene expression in frozen pathological samples.
Tissue microarrays (TMAs) are widely used to analyze gene expression in multiple pathological samples on a single slide. Currently, most TMA slides are made by coring paraffin-embedded tissues and arraying them into a paraffin block, from which TMA sections are cut. However paraffin-based TMA technology may not be compatible with frozen clinical tissue samples, which have a higher quality of RNAs and proteins for preparing TMAs than paraffin-embedded tissue samples. In this study, we developed an alternative TMA technology that is applicable to a broader range of frozen tissue samples. Our method takes advantage of a newly developed array recipient block that can be used to array small tissue cores. After arraying tissue cores, the tissue block can be immediately sectioned on a cryostat microtome to make TMA slides. TMAs made using this method have well-defined array configurations and good tissue/cell morphology. Immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization study also revealed well-preserved proteins and mRNAs on TMA slides. Our method significantly simplifies TMA preparation and assembly when frozen pathological tissues are used. Our technology provides an alternative tool for creating high-quality TMAs for the general research community to study gene expressions in pathological samples.
Zhou
Lei
L
Ambion, Inc., Austin, TX , USA.
Hodeib
Melissa
M
Abad
Joseph D
JD
Mendoza
Leopoldo
L
Kore
Anilkumar R
AR
Hu
Zhongting
Z
D000818:Animals; D015925:Cryopreservation; D004194:Disease; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods*; D024581:Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenase (Phosphorylating) / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D014660:Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide / Q000378:metabolism
D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014660:Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide; D024581:Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenase (Phosphorylating)