Antigenicity Preservation Is Related to Tissue Characteristics and the Post-Mortem Interval: Immunohistochemical Study and Literature Review

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to investigate the post-mortem proteolytic degradation process of selected tissue antigens and correlate it to the post-mortem interval. During the autopsy of 12 cadavers (time interval ranging 1 day–2 years after death) samples of skin, liver, kidney, and spleen were collected. All samples were formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded. Four µm paraffin sections were used for hematoxylin–eosin staining and immunohistochemical analysis (Ki67, Vimentin, Pan cytokeratin, and CD20). Data reported here show that immunohistochemical reactivity preservation was related to the characteristics of the tissues. In particular, the most resistant tissue was the skin, where the autolysis phenomena were not appreciable before 5 days. On the contrary, the liver and the spleen underwent early autolysis, while the kidney displayed an early autolysis of the tubules and a late one of the glomeruli. As concerns specific antigens, immunoreactivity was lost earliest for nuclear antigens as compared to cytoplasmic ones. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that immunohistochemical detection of specific antigens may be useful in estimating the post-mortem interval, especially when we need to know whether the post-mortem interval is a few days or more than 7–10 days.

Induced Coma, Death, and Organ Transplantation: A Physiologic, Genetic, and Theological Perspective

“…The reliability of the encephalogram (EEG) to confirm brain death remains, nevertheless, controversial. Indeed, several studies have shown that brain electrical activity persists for up to 72 h after the person is declared dead [ 68 , 69 ].…”

Prognostic Biomarkers of Cell Proliferation in Colorectal Cancer (CRC): From Immunohistochemistry to Molecular Biology Techniques

“…The immunohistochemical (IHC) technique is based on antibodies against specific antigens in tissues and cells. In histopathology, IHC testing is most commonly performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues that can be stored for long periods of time [ 135 , 136 ]. Increasingly, tissue microarrays (TMAs), which contain selected tissue material from tumors, normal tissues (control), and tumor metastases on a single slide, are being used for IHC.…”

“…There is a lack of standardized systems for evaluating performance, relying on different cut-off values and inconsistent criteria to define the threshold value of marker/antigen positive expression by IHC. A lower reproducibility of results may also be affected by differences in the preparation conditions, antibodies used, their dilutions, and IHC reaction detection systems [ 135 , 136 , 198 , 210 ]. Automated IHC measurements promise to overcome these limitations.…”