[Histonet] Biocare Universal Negative Control Serum may be positive

[Mark Tarango]

We use Biocare's Universal Negative Control Serum for our negative controls
on the Benchmark XT.  I qc the IHC slides daily and don't see any staining
in the negative sections.  We are a large reference lab and I see lots of
negative control slides daily.

You might have gotten a bad batch.  I've had much more trouble with
Ventana's negative rabbit serum before they finally discontinued it and
switched to a new product.

Mark Tarango


On Wed, Apr 7, 2010 at 1:37 PM, Gagnon, Eric <gagnone <@t> kgh.kari.net> wrote:

> Having just validated and started using Biocare Universal Negative Control
> Serum, we were surprised when a pathologist brought back two cases in which
> tumour and/or epithelium came up positive.  This staining was in the same
> locations as positive staining with some markers.  We use Ventana BenchMark
> XT's, and the staining was in both iView and UltraView protocols.
>  Mechanical problems, contamination and dilution of the Negative Control
> Serum did not appear to be factors.
>
> Biocare knows about this and is meeting with Ventana to iron out the
> problem.  Would have been nice to know about this if it was a known issue
> before we bought and started using the product, but better late than never.
>  Posting this in case anyone else on Histonet is experiencing similar
> staining challenges using this product.  As Biocare states in the product
> insert sheet, when used in conjunction with non-Biocare kits, results may
> vary.  We'll keep using it and are currently waiting for advice from
> Biocare.
>
> Eric Gagnon MLT
> Histology Laboratory
> Kingston General Hospital
> Kingston, Ontario, Canada
>
>
>
>
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