Single Gene Copy detection with Silver-ISH

Pathology laboratories planning to implement fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for analysis of HER2 gene amplification in either the confirmatory setting as reflexed from immunohistochemistry or for primary testing of breast carcinomas, may encounter obstacles such as the requirement for specialized instrumentation for staining, supplemental training requirements for pathologists and technologists, delays attributable to overnight hybridization, and complex manual protocols. Silver in situ hybridization (SISH) as an alternative to FISH has been developed by Ventana Medical Systems. SISH results correlate well with FISH results, and all steps of the silver in situ hybridization testing are fully automated including on-line deparaffinization and cell conditioning, target denaturation, probe hybridization, and signal detection. Results are available within 6-7 hours of initiation of staining, and the SISH slides are interpreted using conventional light microscopy without the aid of specialized imaging instrumentation.