Fine-needle aspiration samples

Rapkiewicz A, Espina V, Zujewski JA et al (1925) The needle in the haystack application of breast fine-needle aspirate samples to quantitative protein microarray technology. Cancer 111 173-184... 

Siddiqui MT, Saboorian MH, Gokaslan ST, Ashfaq R. Diagnostic utility of the HepParl antibody to differentiate hepatocellular carcinoma from metastatic carcinoma in fine-needle aspiration samples. Cancer. 2002 96 49-52. 

Loss of DPC4 staining in the pancreatic ductal epithelium is suggestive of carcinoma provided that this loss is confirmed by the presence of in-built controls. DPC4 may also prove to be a helpful marker for differentiating pancreatic adenocarcinoma from other carcinomas in small fine-needle aspirate samples and in metastatic sites. 

There is also a trend toward performing minimally invasive biopsy techniques such as needle/core biopsies and fine needle aspirates (FNAs). The amount of material available from such techniques, even if the bulk (non-microdissected) sample were to be used, can be very small. Traditional DNA microarray analysis requires a fairly substantial amount of material for analysis some 5-10 p.g of total RNA is usually required for analysis in the absence of amplification. In order to obtain this quantity of RNA from typical epithelial cells, as many as 5 x 10 or 1 x 10 cells are required. Clearly, this total RNA requirement poses a challenge when studying microdissected samples, but it also presents a challenge when using small, unique clinical samples, such as FNA biopsies. 

In the routine setting, tissue samples may be obtained by fine needle aspiration, as needle cores, endoscopic biopsies, superficial biopsies of skin or mucosa, or by more extensive excisional procedures. The state of the biopsy, which may be intrinsically necrotic, or ischemic, and the duration between removal of the tissue and placement into fixative will determine the amount of detectable antigen. 

Whereas quantitative assays for ERP and PRP have repeatedly proved their clinical utility, the increasing use of breast tumor biopsies by fine needle aspiration requires an assay that is able to identify the ERP and PRP in small tissue samples. Immunocytochemical procedures are ideal for this and in Section 11.3 a detailed explanation of this method is given. The fine needle aspiration can be used as an... 

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