There is a great need for robust and straightforward assays to evaluate target gene expression in tissues, particularly for preclinical studies. Most in situ RNA detection techniques, however, lack the robustness and sensitivity to reliably detect expression of many target genes in various species and tissue types.
Although popular, immunohistochemistry (IHC) techniques rely on the availability of antibodies which can be expensive and time-consuming to develop. Furthermore, in some cases, it may not be possible to develop appropriate antibodies, particularly in species other than human, rat and mouse. While microarrays and PCR both provide useful molecular profiles of diseases, important clinically relevant cell and tissue context information is lost along with the spatial variation of gene expression patterns.
To solve these problems, Advanced Cell Diagnostics (ACD) has developed the RNAscope™ technology — an advanced platform for in situ RNA detection. Probes can be developed for almost any target in any species in just two weeks — and come with a performance guarantee. Thanks to a proprietary double Z probe design, RNAscope™ ISH enables the detection of almost any RNA biomarker with single-molecule sensitivity and high specificity in tissues. It provides a universal solution to characterize tissue distribution of drug targets and biomarkers in a highly specific and sensitive manner, without the need for time-consuming antibody development and validation.
Addressing the requirements of investigators using a wide range of species and tissue types, section 2 of this book presents data from a recent study of 24 tissue types from three commonly used preclinical animal models (rat, dog, and cynomolgus monkey) to provide a reference guide to optimizing the RNAscope™ assay.
The data details which pretreatment is best for different tissue types and provides recommendations on which control probes to be applied for sample qualification.
The data demonstrates that the fully automated RNAscope™ 2.5 LS Assay is capable of detecting a broad range of RNA targets in multiple tissue types and is ideal for the histopathological evaluation of drug targets and biomarkers in various animal models.
