DNA/RNA extraction from formalin fixed tissues - (Apr/25/2001 )

I am interested in people's experience in stabilizing nucleic acids, specifically RNA, in soft tissue samples (e.g., lymph nodes, bladder, prostate, breast, colon, and others) prior to running assays. Are there any tricks to working around the effects of formalin? Has anyone had any luck in getting docs to bypass formalin on select tissues that will be analyzed molecularly - requesting use of a different fixative or molecular prep solution? What success have people had in the race against time in RNA degradation?

Many thanks,

Bruce

Have you tried Ambion's RNA Later? This permeates the tissue and inhibits RNases, allowing storage at room temp for up to two weeks or much longer storage refrigerated or frozen. It should be fully compatible with DNA extraction.