Quantitative, fluorescence-based in-situ assessment of protein expression.

As companion diagnostics grow in prevalence and importance, the need for accurate assessment of in situ protein concentrations has increased. Traditional immunohistochemistry (IHC), while valuable for assessment of context of expression, is less valuable for quantification. The lack of rigorous quantitative potential of traditional IHC led to our development of an immunofluorescence-based method now commercialized as the AQUA technology. Immunostaining of tissue samples, image acquisition, and use of AQUA software allow investigators to quickly, efficiently, and accurately measure levels of expression within user-defined subcellular or architectural compartments. IHC analyzed by AQUA shows high reproducibility and demonstrates protein measurement accuracy similar to ELISA assays. The process is largely automated, eliminating potential error, and the resultant scores are exported on a continuous scale. There are now numerous published examples where observations made with this technology are not seen by traditional methods.