Epistem has developed techniques for reliable and reproducible immunohistochemistry labelling of single plucked human scalp hairs for a number of antigens. These techniques allow the detection and quantification of protein expression and site-specific phosphorylation, with customisable labelling and quantification options available for each antigen.
Formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) longitudinal sections of anagen (growing) scalp hairs are generated and then the hairs are subjected to immunohistochemistry (IHC). IHC can be benchtop or automated. Labelling is quantified in scanned images using the Aperio® ScanScope® where the number of labelled cells, intensity or location of labelling is quantified.
Every hair is embedded and sectioned longitudinally so that the labelling can be quantified in each cell within each hair, including whether the labelling is translocated (e.g. between nucleus and cytoplasm) or changes in intensity.
Phosphorylated targets can be directly quantified and compared to the levels of total protein. The level of labelling in each hair taken from a patient can be measured to generate an overall patient response and determine intra- and inter-donor variability.
