If I am not mistaken I remember a question from several weeks ago on the demonstration of HER-2/neu protein in bone marrow specimens.  This morning I reviewed a case consisting of a bone marrow core biopsy with metastatic breast CA that showed 3+ c-erbB-2 immunoreactivity.  This tissue sectioned beautifully, displayed gorgeous immunoreactivity, and tolerated the HIER treatment with no tissue loss what-so-ever.  Naturally, the specimen was fixed and processed elsewhere!  I just had to call the referring institution to get their procedure.  They fix their bone marrow specimens for one hour in mixture of 10% formalin (1400 mL), 95% alcohol (580 mL), and glacial acetic acid (20 mL).  Following a wash in tap water the specimen is decaled in 5% nitric acid for one hour then washed in tap water again for 20 minutes.  The specimen is then put into formalin prior to processing.  I hope this information is useful.

R. Cartun