Optimisation and validation of methods to assess single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in archival histological material

An increasing amount of evidence indicates that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may affect a variety of oncology related phenotypes. Occasionally, it is convenient to base studies addressing genotype–phenotype relationships on historical patient cohorts, from which only archival specimens are available. This study was conducted to validate protocols optimised for assessment of SNPs based on paraffin embedded, formalin fixed tissue samples. In 137 breast cancer patients, three TGFB1 SNPs were assessed based on archival histological specimens. In 37 of these patients, the SNPs were also assessed using cultured fibroblasts and the assays were validated by direct comparison of the results. From the remaining 100 patients, only archival material was available. In these patients, the existence of a genetic linkage pattern between the assessed TGFB1 SNPs was used to provide an indirect validation of the genotyping results. Furthermore, two different methods for DNA extraction were compared (semi-automatic DNA extraction using the ABI Prism™ 6100 Nucleic Acid PrepStation versus Proteinase K digestion for 5 days followed by boiling and DNA precipitation). Assessment of SNPs based on archival histological material is encumbered by a number of obstacles and pitfalls. However, these can be widely overcome by careful optimisation of the methods used for sample selection, DNA extraction and PCR. Within 130 samples that fulfil the criteria for analysis a highly reliable SNP assessment was observed. The study demonstrated that different ‘down-stream applications’ (‘single nucleotide primer extension’ or ‘TaqMan ®-based’ real-time PCR) could be used as genotyping procedure. Reliable assessment of SNPs in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded specimens is possible but a number of precautions should be carefully taken.