Branched chain in situ hybridization for albumin as a marker of hepatocellular differentiation: evaluation of manual and automated in situ hybridization platforms

摘要

IntroductionAlbumin, widely recognized as a highly sensitive and specific marker of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is currently unavailable in the diagnostic laboratory because of the lack of a robust platform. In a prior study we detected albumin mRNA in the majority of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinomas using a novel branched chain RNA in situ hybridization (ISH) platform. We now explore the utility of albumin ISH as a marker of hepatocellular differentiation in hepatocellular carcinomas, and compare its sensitivity with Hep Par 1 and Arginase-1.