Objective: To compare the efficacy of nuclear microarray combined with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and immunohistochemistry in detecting ALK gene translocation and ALK fusion protein in anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL).
Methods: ALK gene translocation and ALK fusion protein in 17 paraffin-embedded ALCL specimens were detected using nuclear microarray combined with FISH and immunohistochemical straining, respectively.
Results: The expression of ALK fusion protein was detected immunohistochemically with ALK antibody in 8 of the 17 specimens of systemic ALCL, including 4 with both nuclear and cytoplasmic positivity and 4 with only cytoplasmic positivity. Dual-color FISH identified 6 positive specimens, including the 4 specimens with both nuclear and cytoplasmic positivity as identified immunohistochemically, and 2 with immunohistochemical cytoplasmic positivity. FISH yielded negative results for the 2 specimens with immunohistochemical cytoplasmic positivity.
Conclusion: Nuclear microarray combined with FISH eliminated the cytoplasmic interference of the results of conventional FISH and provides a high-throughput platform for clinical detection with greater specificity than immunohistochemistry.