Comparison of quantum dots immunofluorescence histochemistry and conventional immunohistochemistry for the detection of caveolin-1 and PCNA in the lung cancer tissue microarray

• Published in: Journal of molecular histology Vol. 40; no. 4; pp. 261 - 268
• Main Authors: Chen, Honglei, Xue, Jingling, Zhang, Yuxia, Zhu, Xiaobo, Gao, Jun, Yu, Baoping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands 01.08.2009; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biomarkers, Tumor - chemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Caveolin 1 - chemistry; Cell Biology; China; Developmental Biology; Fluorescent Antibody Technique - methods; Humans; Immunohistochemistry - methods; Life Sciences; Lung Neoplasms - diagnosis; Lung Neoplasms - pathology; Original Paper; Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen - chemistry; Quantum Dots; Sensitivity and Specificity; Tissue Array Analysis - methods; China; Caveolin-1; Tissue microarray; PCNA; Quantum dots; Lung cancer
• ISSN: 1567-2379; 1567-2387
• DOI: 10.1007/s10735-009-9237-y

Luminescent semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) are a new class of fluorescent label with wide ranges of applications in cell imaging. In this study, we evaluated the capability of QDs immunofluorescence histochemistry (QDs-IHC) for detecting antigens of caveolin-1 and PCNA in the lung cancer tissue microarray (TMA) in comparison with the conventional immunohistochemistry (IHC) technique. Both methods revealed consistent antigen localization and statistically non-significant detection rates of caveolin-1 and PCNA expressions in our study. However, the sensitivity of QDs-IHC was higher than IHC. The positive detection rates of caveolin-1 and PCNA by QDs-IHC were 57% (40/70) and 86% (60/70), respectively, which were higher than the detection rates of 47% (33/70) and 77% (54/70), respectively, by IHC. Moreover, QDs exhibited a much better photostability, a broader excitation spectrum and a longer fluorescence lifetime. We showed here the advantages of QDs-IHC over IHC for the detection of caveolin-1 and PCNA in lung cancer TMA.