Anatomic Pathology Services

Immunopathology Laboratory Contact Information:

Autoimmune disease serologies (20,400 in FY 04-05) include screening for diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Sjogren's syndrome, scleroderma, Wegner's granulomatosis and related vasculitides, autoimmune hepatitis, primary biliary cirrhosis, ulcerative colitis, celiac disease and others. Testing methodologies used include enzyme immunoassay, indirect immunofluorescence microscopy, and immunodiffusion.

Flow cytometry (19.400 in FY 04-05) is done on bone marrow, peripheral blood, fine needle aspirations, miscellaneous body fluids, lymph nodes and tumors. Flow cytometry has a wide range of uses from typing lymphomas and leukemias to quantitation of lymphocyte subsets in suspected immunodeficiency diseases.

Immunohistochemistry staining (8,800 in FY 04-05) is done primarily on formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded tissues using automated staining equipment. A large number of antibodies are available to immunophenotype and identify the source of tumors and to detect certain infectious agents (particularly viruses) in tissue sections. In-situ hybridization studies are also performed to identify certain types on infections, particularly Epstein-Barr virus.

Immunofluorescence microscopy (3,000 in FY 04-05) is done on frozen sections of skin, kidney, lymph node, and tumors. It is used both to diagnose autoimmune diseases of the skin, mucosae and the kidney and to immunophenotype lymphoid proliferations and several other types of tumors.