I have, over the years, seen varying results on this one. Currently, we store everything at room temp except HercepTest (Her-2) slides and ER/PR slides which we now store in the fridge at 2-8 C. I had noticed that when we cut 30 or so in advance, by the time we were getting to the 15th slide or so (when they were stored at RT) they went from a 2+/3+ to a 0/1+.
This phenomenon is not exclusive to breast markers, however. The best thing I can say is, keep track of your staining from day to day or week to week depending on how often you do the stain, and compare the slides to see if you are losing antigenicity. If you see that you are, try storing them in the fridge. If you are still losing antigenicity, try cutting a fresh section and run the old one and the fresh one side by side. If you are getting significantly different results, you may have to just cut a fresh section each time you run the stain (major bummer, I know, but I had a research antibody I needed to do that with...)
As far as long term storage, what is long term? I am in a clinical setting right now, so "long term" to me means a month or so. If you are in research and you are talking about 7-8 months or a year or longer, you might want to think about a freezer.
Hope I answered your question.
Ashley Troutman BS, HT(ASCP)QIHC
Histopathology Laboratory
Department of Pathology
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Nashville, TN
Message: 7
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:31:15 -0600
From: Cindy.J.Chard-Bergstrom@aphis.usda.gov
Subject: [Histonet] Control slide storage
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The issue was brought up in the lab regarding the storing of IHC control
slides. What experience has anyone had on the effects of long term storage
and staining quality. We store the slides non preheated (with the paraffin
still on them).
Cindy J Chard-Bergstrom
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