Optimization of tissue microarray technique for breast cancer patients: a short communication

BACKGROUND: Tissue microarray (TMA) is a novel technique for studying different types of cancer tissues in one block. TMA is not yet established in Syria, so we aimed in this project to apply and set the most optimal conditions of TMA creation of breast cancer tissues at the Pathology Department of our institute. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty-eight blocks of breast cancer tissues were selected, considering the inclusion criteria. The tissue specimens of breast cancer patients were manually placed in the block by punching a core from a paraffin block, which was then released into a recipient block using a small trocar. Three different conditions were tested on the constructed TMA block. RESULTS: We determined the most effective parameters that proved high quality: incubating the newly constructed block at a temperature of 43°C for 24 h in the oven and then cutting it the next day after cooling it to room temperature; also, cutting with a 5 μm thickness created the preferable stained slides later. CD3 staining showed high expression of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes among triple-negative breast cancer patients and high expression of CD3 in triple-negative cancer patients. CONCLUSION: The optimization of parameters presented in our study resulted in perfect TMA generation and successful immunohistochemistry staining for cancer research at our institution.