Immunocytochemical detection of lymphocyte surface antigens in fixed tissue sections

Immunocytochemistry has been used extensively in the study of lymphomas on both fixed paraffin-embedded tissues and unfixed frozen tissue sections. The former technique, although preferable in terms of convenience and morphology, has been limited to the detection of cytoplasmic constituents (6), while surface markers, including surface immunoglobulin (SIg) and lymphocyte-associated antigens, have been reliably detected only on frozen sections of fresh tissue (1,2,4,8-10). Michel et al. (2) described a medium for transport of skin biopsies and demonstrated that frozen sections of tissue prepared in this fixative gave results comparable to freshly frozen tissue for immunofluorescent localization of immunoglobulin and complement deposits. We have used this technique for immunofluorescence of skin and kidney biopsies, and in this report evaluate the transport media for fixation of lymphocytes for immunohistochemical staining. We show that this fixative not only preserves the antigenicity of all surface lymphocyte antigens tested but also actually enhances reactivity of the T cell antigen and improves the localization of the antigens.