An Brief Introduction to Formalin-Fixed, Paraffin

Embedded Tissue

FFPE is the most common method of tissue preparation used to archive samples of tissue for further research.

Almost all surgeries generate FFPE tissues.

This method of tissue preservation entails fixing a biospecimen in neutral-buffered formalin soon after resection and then embedding it in paraffin.

What is Formalin-Fixed, Paraffin Embedded Tissue (FFPE)?

Why is it important?

Fixed and archived tissue specimens are stored in facilities all around the world and their research value can not be overstated.

Utilizing top-quality, carefully-sourced FFPE tissue for research can help move research and discovery forward and ultimately, provide new and better treatments for many devastating diseases.

Why is it important?

What is it used for?

FFPE tissue specimens provide a sizeable information source for large-scale drug discovery and biomedical research efforts. Indications include biomarker identification/ validation, genetic studies, and visualization of tissue structure.

They are important for ongoing studies involving many types of cancer, including breast, lung, and colon cancer as well as inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus.

Recent advances in extraction and recovery methods are enabling researchers to gathermore information from FFPE tissue samples that are clinically and scientifically reliable.

For Example:

Tissue for Breast Cancer ResearchA current clinical trial for patients with advanced solid tumors is investigating an agent called

NUC-1031 that may work on breast cancer by preventing cancer cells from dividing and attacking their DNA.

It’s estimated that 40-50% of estrogen receptor (ER) positive breast tumors resist endocrine therapy, which has been shown to reduce risk and even death. By performing proteomic screening of FFPE tissues, a recent study found a novel new protein known as FKBP4 that may play an important role in endocrine-responsive breast cancers.

Biomarker Research into Urological CancerBecause there is often a lack of adequate numbers of fresh tissue samples for biomarker profiling studies, there is great interest in using FFPE archival tissues for urological cancer biomarker studies.

A recent review looked at new techniques that are emerging to overcome the degradation of tissue DNA that has been a concern with the FFPE process.

It concludes that using FFPE archives for biomarker research and profiling is possible, given these new methodology advancements.

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