A NOVEL CELL ARRAY TECHNIQUE FOR HIGH-THROUGHPUT, CELL-BASED ANALYSIS

• Published in: In vitro cellular & developmental biology. Animal 2005-07, Vol.41 (7), p.185-187
• Main Authors: WATERWORTH, A, HANBY, A, SPEIRS, V
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antigens; beta Catenin - analysis; Biomarkers, Tumor - analysis; Cell culture techniques; Cell Line, Tumor - chemistry; Cell Line, Tumor - cytology; Cell lines; Chemical suspensions; Cultured cells; DNA; Epithelial cells; Histological Techniques; HT29 cells; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Immunohistochemistry - methods; microarray; Molecular Diagnostic Techniques; Tumor cell line
• ISSN: 1071-2690; 1543-706X; 1543-706X
• DOI: 10.1290/0505032.1

Microarray technology has burgeoned over the past few years from nucleic acid–based arrays to tissue microarrays (TMAs). This study aimed to develop a technique to incorporate cell lines into an array and to demonstrate the usefulness of this technique by performing immunohistochemistry for β-catenin. Cell suspensions were prepared from 23 tumor cell lines. These were fixed in formalin, suspended in agar, and embedded in paraffin to produce a cell block. A “tissue microarrayer” was used to remove triplicate, 0.6 mm-cores from each cell block and to transfer these into a recipient paraffin block at precise coordinates. Immunohistochemistry was used to identify cell lines positive for β-catenin. Cultured cells were successfully incorporated into the microarray, with preservation of cell architecture and even distribution of cells within each core. A total of 18 of 69 cores (26%) were lost in processing. A total of 16 of 23 cell lines were identified as positive for membrane and cytoplasmic β-catenin, and 6 of 23 were negative. Only one cell line was unscorable because of complete core loss. We have developed a “cell microarray” technique for analyzing antigen expression by immunohistochemistry in multiple cell lines in a single experiment. This novel application of microarrays permits high-throughput, cost-efficient analysis, with the potential to rapidly identify markers with potential diagnostic and therapeutic implications in human disease.