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Immunohistochemistry (IHC)
The science of immunohistochemistry (IHC) is evolving, as evidenced by the development of increasingly sophisticated automated staining platforms, production of specific antibodies for a wide range of species and the availability of a range of novel biomarkers.
IHC studies optimize staining protocols for specific target expression/profiling in human and animal tissues that can be used for a variety of reasons, such as proliferation/apoptosis studies, immuno-oncology, ocular tissues, tumor profiling and tissue cross reactivity.
Common IHC Applications
- Characterize immune cells
- Evaluate the relationship of tumor cells and immune cells
- Visualize cells that are not visible on standard H&E e.g. microglia
- Detect and measure cell proliferation
- Identify which patients are likely to gain benefit from a drug
- Assess on or off target binding of an antibody drug
- Determine the specific location of a protein in a tissue sample i.e. in situ proteomics
- Track human stem cells xenotransplanted into animal models that are used to study their fate
- Study drug metabolism e.g. insulin and glucagon
- Visualize a reporter gene product such as Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP)
- Comply with guidance such as The Society of Toxicologic Pathology (STP)
GLP IHC Features
- Automated IHC stainers with onboard antigen retrieval capabilities:
- Leica BOND RX
- Ventana Discovery XT
- Ventana Discovery Ultra
- Ventana Benchmark Ultra
- High throughput manual methods using ThermoScientific Shandon Sequenza
- Tissue cross reactivity studies
- Immunophenotyping by IHC
- Multiplexing, including dual IHC/ISH
- Multi-species optimally processed tissue bank
- Experience dating back to 1988
- Hundreds of methods previously developed
- Scientific and technical expertise for novel method development
What You Get at Covance
- Hundreds of standard and uncommon (or customizable) assays
- Multiplex staining technologies (chromogenic and fluorescent)
- Large bank of optimally processed paraffin embedded and frozen tissues
- Consistent use of major automated IHC platforms, validated to ensure electronic data regulatory compliance (also see SEND)
- Standard operating procedures among global facilities in Asia, Europe and North American