A core task of pathology is the histologic examination of surgical specimens after a histological preparation has been made. The aim is to make a diagnosis of the disease, on the basis of which treatment decisions are made. In cancer diagnostics, it is often very difficult to make an individualized prognosis, as tumours represent a complex system of diseased and normal cells whose interaction has not yet been sufficiently understood.
As they grow, cancer cells interact with cells in the normal tumor environment - in particular connective tissue cells and cells of the immune system. The type and function of the cells involved, as well as their extent, determine the individual fate of the tumor and thus ultimately of the person affected.
Uncovering these cell interactions is an essential step towards the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic procedures as well as an individualized prognostic statement. This requires the simultaneous visualization of the different cell types in a histological preparation by means of specific staining. Multiplex immunofluorescence labeling (mIF) with subsequent multispectral imaging is an ideal method here.
This is exactly what we show you.
- We explain the complex cell system in human carcinomas: tumor cell versus cells of the tumor microenvironment versus extracellular tissue scaffold
- We describe the production of conventional immunohistochemical preparations for the detection of diagnostic marker proteins in tissue
- We describe the production of mIF preparations and explain the difference to classical immunohistochemical preparations used in daily pathological diagnostics.
- We demonstrate the microscopic visualization of mIF multiple markers in carcinomas and explain the new findings derived from the resulting "colorful images"
Further information on the homepage of the Pathology Section
