Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Feb 26, 2019; 7(4): 419-430
Published online Feb 26, 2019. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v7.i4.419
Formalin fixation on HER-2 and PD-L1 expression in gastric cancer: A pilot analysis using the same surgical specimens with different fixation times
Keita Kai, Yukie Yoda, Atsushi Kawaguchi, Akimichi Minesaki, Hironori Iwasaki, Shinichi Aishima, Hirokazu Noshiro
Keita Kai, Shinichi Aishima, Department of Pathology, Saga University Hospital, Saga 849-8501, Japan
Yukie Yoda, Hironori Iwasaki, Hirokazu Noshiro, Department of Surgery, Saga University Faculty of Medicine, Saga 849-8501, Japan
Atsushi Kawaguchi, Center for Comprehensive Community Medicine, Saga University Faculty of Medicine, Saga 849-8501, Japan
Akimichi Minesaki, Shinichi Aishima, Department of Pathology and Microbiology, Saga University Faculty of Medicine, Saga 849-8501, Japan
Akimichi Minesaki, Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Saga University Faculty of Medicine, Saga 849-8501, Japan
Author contributions: Kai K conceived and designed the study. Kai K, Yoda Y, Kawaguchi A, Minesaki A, Iwasaki H, Aishima S and Noshiro H researched and analyzed data, and wrote, edited and reviewed the manuscript. The manuscript is an original work of all authors. All authors gave final approval for publication. Kai K takes full responsibility for the work as a whole, including the study design, access to data and the decision to submit and publish the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study protocol was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine at Saga University (approval no. 29-74)
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Keita Kai, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, Saga University Hospital, 5-1-1 Nabeshima, Saga City, Saga 849-8501, Japan. kaikeit@cc.saga-u.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-952-343264 Fax: +81-952-342055
Received: November 25, 2018
Peer-review started: November 26, 2018
First decision: December 15, 2018
Revised: December 24, 2018
Accepted: December 29, 2018
Article in press: December 30, 2018
Published online: February 26, 2019
Processing time: 93 Days and 19.1 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: We prospectively investigated the real effects of fixation conditions on human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) or programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) testing for gastric cancer using 32 cases of gastrectomy specimens. We analyzed these resected specimens dividing into four pieces and fixed in four strictly controlled different durations (6 h, 24 h, and 48 h, and 1 wk) by 10% formalin or 10% neutral buffered formalin. In this small-numbered pilot study, the prolonged fixation within 1 wk showed no inferiority in HER-2 or PD-L1 testing. These results will provide supporting information for the interpretation of HER-2 and PD-L1 testing for prolonged fixation cases due to unavoidable circumstances.