Direct Water-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Mass Spectrometry Lipidomic Analysis and Classification of Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded Sarcoma Tissues without Dewaxing
Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue has been the gold standard for routine pathology for general and cancer postoperative diagnostics. Despite robust histopathology, immunohistochemistry, and molecular methods, accurate diagnosis remains difficult for certain cases. Overall, the entire process can be time consuming, labor intensive, and does not reach over 90% diagnostic sensitivity and specificity. There is a growing need in onco-pathology for adjunct novel rapid, accurate, reliable, diagnostically sensitive, and specific methods for high-throughput biomolecular identification. Lipids have long been considered only as building blocks of cell membranes or signaling molecules, but have recently been introduced as central players in cancer. Due to sample processing, which limits their detection, lipid analysis directly from unprocessed FFPE tissues has never been reported.