A validation study on tissue microarrays

Objective To evaluate the validation of tissue microarrays.Methods Tissue microarrays with 2 mm in diameter tissue core were constructed from seventy cases of breast cancer.The tissue microarrays were stained for oestrogen receptor(ER) and progesterone receptor(PR) using immunohistochemistry.At the same time the stains on the tissue microarrays were compared with that from the full tissue sections. Results A highly significant association was observed between the staining scores(0～7) obtained from the full tissue sections and from the tissue microarrays.Concordance for the receptor status(positive/negative) of the whole section and the tissue core were 96.67% for ER,93.93% for PR.The discordance between full section and tissue microarrays was studied using Two-Related-Samples tests and the result had no statistical significance(P0.05). Conclusion Tissue microarays with 2 mm in diameter tissue core can represent full tissue section on immunohistochemistry study,if the tissue microarrays are constructed as standard method.We believe tissue microarray is a reliable and highthroughout tool for research.