Immunohistochemistry is a lab technique that uses specialized antibodies to identify specific cell types in a tissue sample. It is used for research and cancer diagnosis, and can be visually appealing with bright colors indicating different cell types.
Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is a technique that can be used to identify specific types of cells within a given sample. This procedure can be used for a wide variety of purposes, ranging from pure research where people want to learn more about the distribution of certain cell types to cancerous tumor examinations to determine the origin and stage of the cancer. To perform immunohistochemistry, you must have access to a laboratory along with a number of specialized products that will be used to prepare and test the sample.
When someone performs an immunohistochemical study, they introduce specialized antibodies into a sample of the tissue in question, which is usually prepared and fixed on a slide, although free-floating samples can also be tested. The antibodies look for specific antigens in the sample and, if they find a matching antigen, they lock on. Next, the sample is washed to remove excess antibodies, leaving behind the ones they found cells to bind to.
In this step, the researcher or pathologist makes use of the special tags that have been added to the antibodies. These labels classically take the form of enzymes that fluoresce when the sample is exposed to light of a certain wavelength, although it is also possible to use the antibodies as a stain to highlight specific tissue types. By seeing which antibodies have attached themselves to the sample, it is possible to determine what cell types are present and create a detailed picture of the cell types in the sample.
When a pathologist examines a sample from a cancerous tumor, immunohistochemistry is very important. Using this technique, the pathologist can find out where in the body the cancer originated by looking for cells that do not belong in the sample. For example, breast cells in a liver would indicate that the tumor was actually breast cancer that had metastasized to the liver. Antibodies can also be used to identify malignancy, which can help the pathologist determine the stage of the cancer.
While immunohistochemistry is a detailed, serious, and painstaking task, the results can be oddly visually appealing, with bright spots and streaks of color on the specimen slide indicating the presence of different cell types. Especially in cases where the antibodies have been labeled with enzymes that respond to fluorescent light, the slide can be quite vivid and colorful, even when it contains sobering news.
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