Abstract

Background: DNA extraction from paraffin wax embedded tissue requires special protocols, and most described methods report an amplification success rate of 60–80%.

Aims: To propose a simple and inexpensive protocol consisting of xylene/ethanol dewaxing, followed by a kit based extraction.

Method: Xylene/ethanol dewaxing was followed by a long rehydration step and a kit based DNA extraction step.

Results: This method produced a 100% amplification success rate for fragments of 121 to 227 bp for tamponated formalin fixed paraffin wax embedded tissue.

Conclusion: This cost effective and non-laborious protocol can successfully extract DNA from tamponated formalin fixed paraffin wax embedded tissue and should facilitate the molecular analysis of a large number of archival specimens in retrospective studies.