Molecular Biomarkers & Diagnosis

Standard WT1 Expression Using Immunohistochemistry

Abstract

Shigetaka Shimodaira, Koichi Hirabayashi, Terutsugu Koya, Yumiko Higuchi and Kenji Sano

Although it remains difficult to treat advanced cancers affecting organs with distant metastasis, therapeutic cancer vaccination is conducted for the induction of an efficient immune response against tumor-associated antigens. Wilms’ tumor 1 (WT1) shown to be the most potent tumor-associated antigens may have potentially strong therapeutic activity against cancers. WT1 expression using immunohistochemistry (IHC) can be evaluated on paraffin-embedded tissues and is proportional to mRNA levels. The standardized IHC would be useful for personalized cancer immunotherapy.