Immunohistochemical demonstration of surface antigen of human lymphocytes with monoclonal antibody in acetone-fixed paraffin-embedded sections.

Although the majority of reported studies have used fresh-frozen sections in detecting surface antigen of lymphocytes in tissue via monoclonal antibody, detailed histological figures can not be obtained by this method. Nor can the antigenicity be preserved for any length of time. A new method for detecting the surface antigen of lymphocytes using fixed and embedded material is presented. Human spleens were fixed in cold acetone, embedded in low melting point paraffin wax, and the thin sections treated with hyaluronidase. Anti-T lymphocyte monoclonal antibody (anti-Leu-1, anti-Leu-2, anti-Leu-3) and anti-HLA-DR were applied on these sections, and the antigen was detected by the ABC (avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex) method. The results were then compared with those of fresh-frozen sections. There was no great difference in detecting T and B cells or their subsets, but the histological figures were substantially better preserved in sections prepared by the present method. Furthermore, the antigenicity was retained in the materials fixed and embedded for more than two years.