Best Post of August '10: Highly pure anti-IDH1 R132H lyophilizates now available - get a free sample

August 2010 is next up in our "Best of the Month" series. The following guest post from Dr. Olaf Bartsch appeared on August 27th and addresses an important development in the world of neuropathological immunohistochemistry. (Note: I'm not sure whether free samples are still available.)


The German company Dianova now provides reliable highly pure (goat anti-mouse chromatography) lyophilizates of antibody clone H09. The antibody has been purified from cell culture supernatants by GAM (goat anti-mouse) affinity chromatography resulting in a more intense staining of oligodendroglioma versus a clear negative reaction with glioblastoma.

Dianova's proprietary antibodies are now available in the USA directly and can be ordered from U.S. and Canadian customers on the HistoBioTec website or by purchase order.

Please see the datasheet for details and order a free sample.

Fig.1

Double staining of GFAP (red) and clone H09 (brown) of oligodendrogliopma infiltrating zone demonstrating specific labelling of tumor cells but not GFAP positive reactive astrocytes.

Antibody clone H09 serves as a Tumor Cell Marker for Astrocytoma and Oligodendroglioma and is highly usefull for the differentiation of reactive gliosis from low grade glioma. Moreover, the antibody differentiates single infiltrating tumor cells from reactive gliosis.

Fig.2

Infiltrating zone of anaplastic astrocytoma with specific labelling of infiltrating glioma cells by antibody clone H09.

Clone H09 was developed for staining of standard formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) sections in clinical routine and is the first commercially available antibody that specifically stains single cells carrying the IDH1R132H point mutation.

Fig.3

Cortex infiltrated by oligodendroglioma with specific labelling of tumor cells by antibody clone H09.

Retinal changes in inflicted pediatric head trauma

The illustrious Peter Cummings, MD recently contributed an excellent post to the Cambridge University Press medical blog on the topic inflicted pediatric head trauma.  In particular, Dr. Cummings discusses the presence of retinal hemorrhage and retinal hemorrhage as evidence for pediatric head trauma. Whether or not the trauma had been intentionally inflicted depends, of course, on the history provided by witnesses and law enforcement.as there are no pathognomonic findings. But, as Dr. Cummings says in his post: "I treat every pediatric case as though it is a homicide until I can prove to myself that it is not."

Retinal fold with hemorrhage

Given the near ubiquity of artefactual retinal folds in extracted eye specimens, I asked Dr. Cummings whether there is a role for postmortem funduscopic examination. He responded that he has had some success with this technique, but postmortem corneal clouding often makes funduscopic exams impossible.

 

Dr. Cummings is the director of forensic neuropathology at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Boston, Massachusetts. He is also first editor of Atlas of Forensic Histopathology, which has just been released by Cambridge University Press.