This figure is from "A transcriptionally and functionally distinct PD-1+ CD8+ T cell pool with predictive potential in non-small-cell lung cancer treated with PD-1 blockade" of Nature Medicine. They did H&E staining on human tumor slide. The white arrows point to the tertiary lymphoid structure (TLS), does anyone know why haematoxylin (purple) can stain for TLS and eosin (light pink) stained for cancer cells in this figure?
I don't really understand the mechanism.
Can someone help me? Thanks so much!
It's not a matter of the eosin specifically staining the cancer cells and the hematoxylin specifically staining the lymph cells. Both stains will stain both cell types. However, lymph cells tend to have very large nuclei and a lower amount of cytoplasm. Since the hematoxylin (blue/purple) stain is basophilic, it is attracted to nucleic acids in the nucleus, so the nucleus is primarily stained with hematoxylin. Lymph cells are mostly nucleus, therefore they appear more blue/purple. The cancer cells (in this case) either have more cytoplasm, and/or less dense nuclei, so they appear pink at low magnification.
I hope I have answered your question! Let me know if you need any other clarification!
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