Routine acid decalcification of bone marrow samples can preserve DNA for FISH and CGH studies in metastatic prostate cancer.

Production of paraffin-section material from tissue samples that contain bone requires decalcification. Techniques such as acidic decalcification or EDTA chelation are suitable methods. Acid decalcification is generally quicker than EDTA chelation but studies have suggested that it may result in hydrolysis of DNA. Here we show that limited acid decalcification (less than 24 hr) in 5% formic acid can preserve DNA sufficient for fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) or comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) and that prolonged 10% formic acid decalcification results in failure of FISH and only limited retrieval of DNA for CGH studies.