A simple method for the construction of small format tissue arrays

Tissue arrays can evailuate molecular targets in high numbers of samples in parallel,. Array construction presents technical difficulties :and, tissue arrayers are expensive, particularly for small and medium sized laboratories. This report describes a method; for the construction of 36 sample arrays using widely available materials. A blunted 16 extract paraffin wax cylinders and manually define a 6 x 6 matrix on a blank paraffin wax block. Tissue cores from 36 paraffin wax embedded premalignant lesions and invasive cervical carcinomas were, injected into the matrix using a 14 gauge needle. This tissue, array was sectioned using a standard microtome and used for the immunodetection of CD44 variant 9 and interleukin 18 with satisfactory results. This method can be applied in any laboratory, without the need of specialised equipment, offering a good alternative for the wider application of tissue arrays.