Tissue Preparation for Histopathological Analysis

Tissue samples for histopathological analyses and immunohistochemistry assays were processed following standard procedure as previously reported[22 (link)]. Briefly, formalin-fixed tissues were dehydrated in a series of increasing concentrations of ethanol (70%, 80%, 95% and 100%) before they were incubated in Xylene (Thermo Fisher Scientific) two times with each time incubating for 1 h at room temperature, and then infiltrating with melted paraffin wax in an oven at 65 °C. Paraffin-embedded tissue blocks were sectioned at 5 μm using a microtome. The sections were loaded to polylysine-coated glass slides, dried overnight at 42 °C, and stored at room temperature for further use.