Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Introduction to Immunohistochemistry: From to Evolving Science to Timeless Art

  • Protocol
  • First Online:
Immunohistochemistry and Immunocytochemistry

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2422))

Abstract

Immunohistochemistry and all techniques that use antibodies and fluorescence are widespread, essential and irreplaceable tools used in both research laboratory settings and diagnostic pathology laboratories. The field was born approximately 80 years ago, with the idea that antibodies could be tagged with fluorescent substances and used to detect antigens in cells and microorganisms, and has vertiginously evolved since; these advances have come in all aspects of the methodology, tissue fixation, generation of antibodies, monoclonal antibodies, signal amplification, antigen retrieval, signal amplification, microscopy and have become increasingly sophisticated, from in situ hybridization, in situ proximity ligation assay, flow cytometry, comet assay, to multiplexing and green fluorescent protein reconstitution, yielding Nobel Prizes along the way and generating invaluable scientific and diagnostic advances as well as timeless beautiful images.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Protocol
USD 49.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Metchnikoff E (1887) Sur la lutte des cellules de l’organisme contre l’invasion des microbes. Ann Inst Pasteur 1:321

    Google Scholar 

  2. Metchnikoff O (1921) The life of Elie Metchnikoff, 1845-1916. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, p 23ff

    Book  Google Scholar 

  3. Ehrlich P (1901) Die Seitenkettentheorie und ihre Gegner. Münch Med Wschr 18:2123

    Google Scholar 

  4. Valent P, Groner B, Schumacher U, Superti-Furga G, Busslinger M, Kralovics R, Zielinski C, Penninger JM, Kerjaschki D, Stingl G, Smolen JS, Valenta R, Lassmann H, Kovar H, Jäger U, Kornek G, Müller M, Sörgel F (2016) Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915) and his contributions to the foundation and birth of translational medicine. J Innate Immun 8(2):111–120

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. The Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine 1908. nobelprize.org

  6. Kaufmann SH (2008) Immunology’s foundation: the 100-year anniversary of the Nobel prize to Paul Ehrlich and Elie Metchnikoff. Nat Immunol 9:705–712

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Schmalstieg FC, Goldman AS (2008) Ilya Ilich Metchnikoff (1845-1915) and Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915): the centennial of the 1908 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine. J Med Biogr 16(2):96–103

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Ehrlich P (1891) Experimentelle Untersuchungen ubre Immunitat.II. Ueber Abrin. Dtsch Med Wochenschr 17:1218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Janeway CA Jr, Travers P, Walport M, Shlomchik MJ (2001) The structure of a typical antibody molecule. In: 5th ed (ed) Immunobiology: the immune system in health and disease. Garland Science, New York

    Google Scholar 

  10. Marrack J (1934) Nature of antibodies. Nature 133:292–293

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Coons AH, Creech H, Jones R (1941) Immunological properties of an antibody containing a fluorescent group. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 47:200–202

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Coons AH, Creech H, Jones R, Berliner E (1942) The demonstration of pneumococcal antigen in tissues by the use of fluorescent antibody. J Immunol 45:159–170

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Coons AH, Kaplan MH (1950) Localization of antigen in tissue cells II: improvements in a method for the detection of antigen by means of fluorescent antibody. J Exp Med 91(1):1–13

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Coons AH, Snyder JC, Sargent Cheever F, Murray ES (1950) Localization of antigen in tissue cells; antigens of rickettsiae and mumps virus. J Exp Med 91(1):31–38

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. Coons AH (1960) Immunofluorescence. J Immunol 75:937–943

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Morikawa S, Coons AH (1976) Enumeration of specific antibody-forming cells of the mouse spleen after stimulation with protein antigens. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 153(1):44–48

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Graham R Jr, Karnovsky MJ (1966) The early stages of absorption of injected horseradish peroxidase in the proximal tubules of mouse kidney: ultrastructural cytochemistry by a new technique. J Histochem Cytochem 14(4):291–302

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Avrameas S, Lespinats G (1967) Enzymes coupled to proteins: their utilization for the detection of antigens and antibodies. C R Acad Hebd Seances Acad Sci D 265(16):1149–1152

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Avrameas S, Guilbert B (1971) Enzymo-immunological determination of proteins with the aid of immunoadsorbants and enzyme-labelled antigens. C R Acad Sci Hebd Seances Acad Sci D 273(25):2705–2707

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Nakane PK, Pierce GB (1967) Localization of tissue antigens on the ultrathin sections with peroxidase-labeled antibody method. J Histochem Cytochem 18(3):161–166

    Google Scholar 

  21. Nakane P (1968) Simultaneous localization of multiple tissue antigens using the peroxidase-labeled antibody method: a study on pituitary glands of the rat. J Histochem Cytochem 16(9):557–560

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Mason T, Phifer RF, Spicer SS, Swallow RA, Dreskin RB (1969) An immunoglobulin-enzyme bridge method for localizing tissue antigens. J Histochem Cytochem 17(9):563–569

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Sternberger L, Hardy PH Jr, Cuculis JJ, Meyer HG (1970) The unlabeled antibody enzyme method of immunohistochemistry: preparation and properties of soluble antigen-antibody complex (horseradish peroxidase-antihorseradish peroxidase) and its use in identification of spirochetes. J Histochem Cytochem 18:315–333

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Mason DY, Sammons R (1978) Alkaline phosphatase and peroxidase for double immunoenzymatic labelling of cellular constituents. J Clin Pathol 31(5):454–460

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  25. Taylor CR, Burns J (1974) The demonstration of plasma cells and other immunoglobulin-containing cells in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues using peroxidase-labelled antibody. J Clin Pathol 27(1):14–20

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  26. Hsu SM, Raine L, Fanger H (1981) Use of avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex (ABC) in immunoperoxidase techniques: a comparison between ABC and unlabeled antibody (PAP) procedures. J Histochem Cytochem 29(4):577–580

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Hsu SM, Raine L (1981) Protein A, avidin, and biotin in immunohistochemistry. J Histochem Cytochem 29(11):1349–1353

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Bayer EA, Wilchek M, Skutelsky E (1976) Affinity cytochemistry: the localization of lectin and antibody receptors on erythrocytes via the avidin-biotin complex. FEBS Lett 68(2):240–244

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Green NM (1963) Avidin. 1. The use of (14-C)Biotin for kinetic studies and for assay. Biochem J 89(3):585–591

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  30. Köhler G, Milstein C (1975) Continuous cultures of fused cells secreting antibody of predefined specificity. Nature 256(5517):495–497

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. McMichael AJ, Pilch JR, Galfre G, Mason DY, Fabre JW, Milstein C (1979) A human thymocyte antigen defined by a hybrid myeloma monoclonal antibody. Eur J Immunol 9(3):205–210

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Shi SR, Key ME, Kalra KL (1991) Antigen retrieval in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues: an enhancement method for immunohistochemical staining based on microwave oven heating of tissue sections. J Histochem Cytochem 39:741–748

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Bobrow MN, Harris TD, Shaughnessy KJ, Litt GJ (1989) Catalyzed reporter deposition, a novel method of signal amplification. Application to immunoassays. J Immunol Methods 125(1–2):279–285

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Adams JC (1992) Biotin amplification of biotin and horseradish peroxidase signals in histochemical stains. J Histochem Cytochem 40(10):1457–1463

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Hasui K, Murata F (2005) A new simplified catalyzed signal amplification system for minimizing non-specific staining in tissues with supersensitive immunohistochemistry. Arch Histol Cytol 68(1):1017

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Mohsen MG, Kool ET (2016) The discovery of the rolling circle amplification and rolling circle transcription. Acc Chem Res 49(11):2540–2550

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  37. Sano T, Smith CL, Cantor CR (1992) Immuno-PCR: very sensitive detection by means of specific antibody-DNA conjugates. Science 258(5079):120–122

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Fredriksson S, Gullberg M, Jarvius J, Olsson C, Pietras K, Gústafsdóttir SM, Ostman A, Landegren U (2002) Protein detection using proximity-dependent DNA ligation assays. Nat Biotechnol 20(5):473–477

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. US Patent US3013467A, filed in 1957 and granted in 1961

    Google Scholar 

  40. Davidovits P, Egger MD (1969) Scanning laser microscope. Nature 223(5208):831

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Ness JM, Akhtar RS, Latham CB, Roth KA (2003) Combined tyramide signal amplification and quantum dots for sensitive and photostable immunofluorescence detection. J Histochem Cytochem 51(8):981–987

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Akhtar RS, Latham CB, Siniscalco D, Fuccio C, Roth KA (2007) Immunohistochemical detection of quantum dots. Methods Mol Biol 374:11–28

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Chen K, Xiang L, Xu K (2021) Excitation spectral microscopy for highly multiplexed fluorescence imaging and quantitative biosensing. Light Sci Appl 10:97

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  44. Chalfie M, Tu Y, Euskirchen G, Ward WW, Prasher DC (1994) Green fluorescent protein as a marker for gene expression. Science 263(5148):802–805

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Pierce AJ, Jasin M (2005) Measuring recombination proficiency in mouse embryonic stem cells. Methods Mol Biol 291:373–384

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. Nakanishi K, Cavallo F, Brunet E, Jasin M (2011) Homologous recombination assay for interstrand cross-link repair. Methods Mol Biol 745:283–291

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology and Medicine & Louisiana Cancer Research Center, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Luis Del Valle

Authors
  1. Luis Del Valle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luis Del Valle .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology and Medicine & Louisiana Cancer Research Center, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Luis Del Valle

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

About this protocol

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this protocol

Del Valle, L. (2022). Introduction to Immunohistochemistry: From to Evolving Science to Timeless Art. In: Del Valle, L. (eds) Immunohistochemistry and Immunocytochemistry. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2422. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1948-3_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1948-3_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-1947-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-1948-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation