High-density tissue microarrays from prostate needle biopsies

BACKGROUND: Formalin-fixed prostate biopsies are frequently the only tissue collected at the time of prostate cancer diagnosis. There is therefore a requirement for techniques that allow the use of these prostate biopsy specimens in a high-throughput analysis of immunohistochemical and fluorescence-in-situ-hybridisation-detected biomarkers. METHODS: The authors have previously described methods that allow tissue microarray (TMA) construction from prostate biopsies. Here, we describe significant technical innovations that provide an easier and more robust system of biopsy–TMA construction. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The TMAs produced are of a high density (up to 104 cores each, 8×13) and allow a multiplex analysis of biomarkers in the context of clinical trials.