IMMUNOHISTOCHEMISTRY OF INFECTIOUS-DISEASES

Today's surgical pathology laboratory is seeing an increased number of specimens from patients with AIDS, organ transplant recipients, cance r patients receiving therapy, and other types of patients where an inf ectious agent or agents may be involved. As a result, the pathologist is often called upon to diagnose infectious disease based on the exami nation of either tissue sections or cell preparations. Until recently the pathologist has had to rely on the hematoxylin and eosin stain, va rious histochemical stains, and electron microscopy to meet this chall enge. Information from culture and serology (when available) may be li mited. Now, with the availability of polyclonal and monoclonal antibod ies directed against viruses, bacteria, fungi, and protozoa, immunohis tochemistry has become a valuable tool for the identification of infec tious agents in specimens from humans and animals. The advantages of u sing immunohistochemistry for infectious disease detection include dir ect morphologic localization, high sensitivity that permits testing of fixed tissues and cells, a high degree of specificity due to the use of monoclonal antibodies, rapid testing capable of producing results i n 1-2 hours, and ease of use and interpretation. Not only does immunoh istochemistry provide valuable information for infectious disease diag nosis, but it also serves as a powerful technique to investigate the r elationship of various infectious agents and human neoplasia.