What is immunohistochemistry?
    Immunohistochemistry is a method of accurately and specifically expressing molecules at the molecular level. These molecular levels may be related to cancer cells, bacteria, viruses, and the like. Since the successful production of these specific antibodies allows the tissue structure to be revealed at the molecular level, these specific antibodies can bind to specific structures in tumor cells, and these antibodies are called monoclonal antibodies. These monoclonal antibodies are incubated on tissue sections for specific reaction with specific target cells. For example, monoclonal antibodies can specifically react with cancer cells, and monoclonal antibodies can be obtained from blood cells of specific tumor patients. Antibodies bound in tissue sections can be displayed in brown or red. For example, labeling experiments on tumor cells transferred to bone tissue can be labeled with prostate-specific antibodies. If a positive reaction is shown in brown or red, we can clearly determine that the metastatic tumor is from prostate cancer, some metastasis. The tumor may be further away from the original site. Immunohistochemistry can not only help to accurately diagnose the nature of tumors, but also predict the biological behavior of tumor prognosis. For example, we can know the proliferative activity of all tissue cells. Isn't this a more meaningful experiment? We can determine that 80% of cell proliferation inhibits the proliferation of the other 10% of tumor cells in a tumor tissue. We can determine that this tumor cell has a high proliferation rate and grows faster than other tumors.

    In other aspects, immunohistochemical staining can guide chemotherapy in certain tumors, such as: the amount of estrogen receptors carried in female breast cancer cells can be determined. If the estrogen expression in cancer cells is positive, the patient can be treated with tamoxifen, which promotes the growth of breast cancer cells, and tamoxifen has the function of blocking estrogen receptors in cancer cells. In this process, cancer cells carrying estrogen receptors promote growth through hormones, and cancer cell proliferation can be prevented by tamoxifen treatment. Therefore, immunohistochemistry to determine the expression of estrogen receptors can predict the significance of tamoxifen treatment. This is just a small example of an immunohistochemistry application. The application prospect of immunohistochemistry in determining the origin of tissues is unlimited. Immunohistochemistry is a complex biotechnology that has a unique staining method for each antibody marker, in order to clarify the origin of various tissues and determine the presence of specific antigens in the tissue.
How does a pathologist diagnose a cancer?

    When a cancer patient visits, the surgeon takes a small piece of tissue at the tumor site and sends it to the pathologist. In the pathology department, the tissue to be examined was embedded in paraffin, and a very thin tissue section was prepared. The sections were then subjected to HE staining. Then the pathologist placed the sections under a microscope to observe whether there were tumor cells in the specimens. And make a diagnosis of what kind of tumor. Unfortunately, many tumor tissue cells look very similar under the microscope, so that it is difficult for the pathologist to fully accurately determine the nature of the tumor. In many cases of cancer, differential diagnosis is very difficult, because only by defining the nature of the tumor, doctors can develop the most effective treatment for each tumor. At present, the surface and intracellular cells of tumor cells have been studied at the molecular level. Specific substance expression. The structure of tissue sections seen in the past under traditional light microscopy and electron microscopy, the molecular level structure once imagined, has been proved by modern immunohistochemistry techniques. The whole process of this technique is called immunohistochemistry.


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