Dr. Giorgio Cattoretti
Associate Professor of Clinical Pathology
Institute for Cancer Genetics, Columbia University

Immunohistochemistry (IHC) or immunofluorescence (IF)?

Answer:

IHC allows you to see cytologic details and tissue architecture.

Preparations are permanent and relatively light-insensitive.
 

If you have very rare events, IHC allow you to screen large fields at low power.
 

Autofluorescence on some tissue makes IF very difficult.
 

IF gives quantitative signals (if you have a way to acquire signals quantitatively).
 

Co-staining the same subcellular structure with different fluorochrome is possible ONLY with IF.
 

Triple staining is possible only with IF.