Hormone receptor fixation

The optimal result is to have a standard fixation time, ideally unique for every antigen that one is attempting to detect. For example, as per the CAP-ASCO guidelines, the recommended minimum fixation in 10% neutral buffered formalin for HER2/neu IHC is 6 hours, and for hormone receptors it is 8 hours. 

A new, very timely chapter on immunocytology has been included by Dr. Chivukula, which discusses proper cytologic technique for fixation and processing specimens obtained for hormone receptors and HER2/neu testing. 

There are several new completely rewritten chapters with new authors, all of them experts in their respective fields, including N. Volkan Adsay, Jonathan Epstein, Alyssa M. Krasinskas, Alvin W. Martin, George Netto, and Yuri E. Nikiforov. The latest recommendations for proper fixation and processing of hormone receptor testing are authoritatively discussed by Dr. Clive R. Taylor. 

The entrance of steroid hormones into the cells has always been assumed to be a passive phenomenon, based on its solubility in the phospholipids of the cell membrane. Nevertheless, the existence of specific fixation of steroid hormones to cell membranes has opened the possibility of their entrance into the cells mediated by proteins of the membrane (Levin 2002). Nevertheless, it has not been possible to verify that they participate in some way in the transportation of steroids to the interior of the cell (Beato et al. 1996 Beato 1989). For them, other possible extragenomic actions have been postulated such as enzymes that participate in the metabolism of hormones or even membrane receptors (Beato et al. 1996 Chirino et al. 1991 Fernandez et al. 1994 Gruber et al. 2002 Revelli et al. 1998). 

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