Last Updated on January 17, 2025 by Analgesia team
IHC Medical Abbreviation
IHC stands for immunohistochemistry, a laboratory technique for identifying and visualizing antigens in tissue samples. IHC is a laboratory technique that combines histology and immunology. It involves
- Placing a tissue sample on a glass slide
- Adding an antibody that binds to a specific target
- Staining the sample with an enzyme or dye
- Viewing the sample under a microscope
Purpose Of IHC
The purpose of immunohistochemistry (IHC) is to help diagnose diseases by detecting antigens in tissue samples:
- Cancer: IHC is used to diagnose cancer, predict treatment response, and determine prognosis. It can help identify the type of cancer, where it started, and how likely it is to grow.
- Neurological conditions and blood disorders: IHC can help classify these conditions and blood disorders.
- Brain trauma: IHC can detect axonal injury within hours of a head injury. This can help establish the timing of the injury in medico-legal settings.
Procedure
The immunohistochemistry (IHC) procedure involves several steps, including:
- Antigen retrieval
This step is often required for formalin-fixed tissues. It reverses the masking of epitopes and restores the binding between epitopes and antibodies. This step is important because it can result in weak or false negative staining if omitted.
- Primary antibody incubation
The primary antibody is incubated on the tissue sample, usually for one hour, but sometimes overnight. The antibody binds to the antigen if it’s present.
- Washing
Excess unbound primary antibody is washed away.
- Secondary antibody incubation
The tissue is incubated with a labeled secondary antibody. This typically takes 30 minutes to one hour at room temperature or 37°C.
- Counterstaining
Specific structures in the tissue or cells are stained in contrasting colors to visualize them. Hematoxylin or methyl green are commonly used for nuclear staining.
- Mounting
The sample is mounted to prevent drying and fading, and to make it suitable for long-term storage. Water-soluble or hydrophobic mounting media can be used
Advantages Of Immunohistochemistry (IHC)
Immunohistochemistry (IHC) has many advantages, including:
Visualizes antigens: IHC can identify the presence of antigens in cells and tissues, and their location within the tissue.
Preserves tissue structure: It doesn’t destroy the tissue’s structure, allowing pathologists to assess the expression pattern of a molecule in its microenvironment.
Permanent record: It produces long-lasting staining and a permanent record of the staining.
Widely used: IHC is a cornerstone of disease diagnosis and is widely used in diagnostic pathology.
Versatile: It can be used with fresh or frozen tissue samples, and it’s compatible with routine histological samples.
Low cost: It is relatively inexpensive.
Quick turnaround: Immunohistochemistry has a fast turnaround time.
Minimal risk: Immunohistochemistry poses minimal risk to human health because it doesn’t involve live infectious agents.
Detects infectious organisms: IHC can identify infectious organisms in tissues.
Detects cellular changes: Immunohistochemistry can detect specific cellular changes and provide information about tissue changes caused by chemicals.
Detects axonal injury: It can detect axonal injury within hours of a head injury.