ABOUT THE COMMITTEE

Year Created: 2007

Chair: Dr. Emina Torlakovic (Toronto, ON)
Vice-Chair: Dr. Blake Gilks (Vancouver, BC)

Purpose

CAP-ACP National Standards Committee/Immunohistochemistry was established by the CAP-ACP in 2007 with a task to spearhead standardization in diagnostic immunohistochemistry (IHC) in Canada. The name was subsequently changed to CAP-ACP National Standards Committee for High Complexity Laboratory Testing to include consideration for standardization of other high complexity testing for patient care. At the moment, the IHC branch is referred to as CAP-ACP National Standards Committee for High Complexity Laboratory Testing/Immunohistochemistry (CAP-ACP NSCHCLT/IHC).  The Committee is closely aligned and cooperates with Canadian Immunohistochemistry Quality Control (CIQC), an academic proficiency testing program for IHC which is also associated with the CAP-ACP.

Laboratory standards and their quality assurance (QA), including diagnostic IHC standards and QA, are generally regulated provincially and subsequently, there may be a potential for variation in IHC testing. Therefore, the NSCHCLT/IHC role was to propose national standards that would lead to harmonization of diagnostic IHC on the national level.

Since its inception the NSCHCLT/IHC and CIQC have published several recommendations for diagnostic IHC standardization of testing as well as QA in IHC (see Guidelines) and have reported on the current status and proficiency testing results for many IHC markers.

Publications

• Fit-For-Purpose PD-L1 Biomarker Testing For Patient Selection in Immuno-Oncology: Guidelines For Clinical Laboratories From the Canadian Association of Pathologists-Association Canadienne Des Pathologistes (CAP-ACP).
• "Interchangeability" of PD-L1 immunohistochemistry assays: a meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy.
• Standardization of Positive Controls in Diagnostic Immunohistochemistry: Recommendations From the International Ad Hoc Expert Committee
• HER2/neu Testing in Gastric Cancer by Immunohistochemistry: Assessment of Interlaboratory Variation
• Canadian Association of Pathologists-Association canadienne des pathologistes National Standards Committee for High Complexity Testing/Immunohistochemistry: Guidelines for the Preparation, Release, and Storage of Unstained Archived Diagnostic Tissue Sections for Immunohistochemistry
• Standardization of negative controls in diagnostic immunohistochemistry: recommendations from the international ad hoc expert panel
• Academic and nonacademic laboratories perform equally on CIQC immunohistochemistry proficiency testing
• Use of mismatch repair immunohistochemistry and microsatellite instability testing: exploring Canadian practices
• Development of an evidence-based approach to external quality assurance for breast cancer hormone receptor immunohistochemistry: comparison of reference values
• The laboratory score/reference method score ratio (LSRSR) is a novel tool for monitoring laboratory performance in immunohistochemistry proficiency testing of hormone receptors in breast cancer: the CIQC experience
• Inappropriate calibration and optimisation of pan-keratin (pan-CK) and low molecular weight keratin (LMWCK) immunohistochemistry tests: Canadian Immunohistochemistry Quality Control (CIQC) experience
• Canadian Association of Pathologists-Association canadienne des pathologistes National Standards Committee/Immunohistochemistry: best practice recommendations for standardization of immunohistochemistry tests
• Implementation of a Canadian external quality assurance program for breast cancer biomarkers: an initiative of Canadian Quality Control in immunohistochemistry (cIQc) and Canadian Association of Pathologists (CAP) National Standards Committee/Immunohistochemistry
• Canadian external quality assurance program for breast cancer biomarkers

Members:

• Emina Emilia Torlakovic, MD, PhD, FCAP
• C. Blake Gilks, MD, FRCPC
• Christian Couture, MD, MSc, FRCPC
• Penny Barnes, MD, FRCPC
• Hala El-Zimaity, MD
• Gilbert Bigras MD PhD FRCPC
• Robert Riddell, MD, FRCPath, FRCPC
• Jagdish Butany, MBBS, MS, FRCPC
• John Garratt, RT (Cytology)
• Laurette Geldenhuys, MBBCH, FFPATH, MMED, FRCPC, FIAC, MAEd
• Carol Cheung, MD, PhD, JD, FRCPC
• Lisa Manning, MLT, BSc.
• Adnan Mansoor, MD, FCPS,FRCP(C), FCAP
• Paul E. Swanson, MD
• Scott Boerner, MD, FRCPC
• Alan Spatz, MD
• Gabor Fischer, MD, PhD
• Jean Deschenes, MD, FRCPC
• Victor Tron, MD, FRCPC