Tissue microarray and Cellular microarray
Tissue microarray
• Tissue microarrays (also TMAs) consist
of paraffin blocks in which up to 1000
separate tissue cores are assembled in
array fashion to allow multiplex
histological analysis.
A Tissue MicroArray Block
Procedure
• In the tissue microarray technique, a hollow needle is used to remove tissue
cores as small as 0.6 mm in diameter from regions of interest in paraffin-
embedded tissues such as clinical biopsies or tumor samples.
• These tissue cores are then inserted in a recipient paraffin block in a precisely
spaced, array pattern.
• Sections from this block are cut using a microtome, mounted on a microscope
slide and then analyzed by any method of standard histological analysis.
• Each microarray block can be cut into 100 – 500 sections, which can be subjected
to independent tests.
• Tests commonly employed in tissue microarray include immunohistochemistry,
and fluorescent in situ hybridization.
• Tissue microarrays are particularly useful in analysis of cancer samples.
• The use of tissue microarrays in combination with immunohistochemistry has been a
preferred method to study and validate cancer biomarkers in various defined cancer
patient cohorts.
• The possibility to assemble a large number of representative cancer samples from a
defined patient cohort that also has a corresponding clinical database, provides a
powerful resource to study how different protein expression patterns correlate with
different clinical parameters.
• Since patient samples are assembled into the same block, sections can be stained with
the same protocol to avoid experimental variability and technical artefacts.
• Clinical cancer patient cohorts and corresponding tissue microarray sets have been
used to study diagnostic, prognostic and treatment predictive cancer biomarkers in
most forms of cancer, including lung, breast, colorectal and renal cell cancer
Cellular microarray
• A cellular microarray (or cell microarray) is a laboratory tool that allows for the
multiplex interrogation of living cells on the surface of a solid support.
• The support, sometimes called a "chip", is spotted with varying materials, such as
antibodies, proteins, or lipids, which can interact with the cells, leading to their
capture on specific spots.
• Combinations of different materials can be spotted in a given area, allowing not
only cellular capture, when a specific interaction exists, but also the triggering of
a cellular response, change in phenotype, or detection of a response from the
cell, such as a specific secreted factor.
Chemical compound microarray
• A chemical compound microarray is a collection of organic chemical compounds
spotted on a solid surface, such as glass and plastic. This microarray format is very
similar to DNA microarray, protein microarray and antibody microarray.
• In chemical genetics research, they are routinely used for searching proteins that
bind with specific chemical compounds, and in general drug discovery research,
they provide a multiplex way to search potential drugs for therapeutic targets.
Polymer Microarrays
• Polymer microarrays have been developed to allow screening for new polymeric
materials to direct different tissue lineages.
• Research has also been directed towards studying the surface chemistry of these
arrays to determine which surface chemistries control cell adhesion, although
concerns have been raised as to the influence of the substrate on measurements
and the questionable statistical interpretation of results.
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