Advances in Molecular Pathology
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pathology, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2011) | Viewed by 40726
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Molecular pathology is a medical subspecialty, increasingly localized between pathology and clinical medicine. Why may this somewhat provocative view be justified? Molecular pathology got its start in the last 10 to 20 years of the last century as a field with the primary goal of aiding pathologists in making the right diagnosis in difficult cases or to find out whether a lesion is neoplastic or reactive. Initially, PCR-based methods were developed that worked on paraffin material allowing the determination of clonality of immunoglobulin or T-cell receptor genes in lymphoid neoplasia, or even in nonlymphoid tissues such as myeloid proliferations or endometriosis using HUMARA. In parallel, RT-PCR and later Q-PCR from cDNA or FISH- based techniques became extremely useful methods to look for gene-fusions such as BCR-ABL and EWS-FLI1 in leukemias and sarcomas, or Q-PCR from DNA to find JAK2 mutations in myeloproliferative and myelodysplastic syndromes. Besides hematology and oncology, a considerable overlap has developed with microbiology, when looking for mycobacteria and other infectious agents in human tissues by PCR, and even with medical genetics, when looking for microsatellite instability in HNPCC or for the diagnosis of hemochromatosis. “Molecular pathology” in recent years is also becoming a tool for basic scientists and, lately for clinicians to look for minimal residual disease, determine prognosis and chose the best therapy. Examples for the latter are the analysis of mutations of KRAS in colon cancer, EGFR in lung cancer or CKIT in GIST as predictive markers. Novel technologies such as oligonucleotide arrays, whole genome sequencing and cDNA microarrays allow genomic analysis and gene expression profiling of tumor entities. They have the potential to revolutionize disease nomenclature, to better understand disease pathogenesis, help in treatment decisions and more accurately determine prognosis. On the other hand, rate limiting steps are the costs of these novel technologies in research and clinical applications and the need for effective cooperation between the departments of pathology, basic sciences, microbiology, virology, genetics, biometry/statistics, as well as clinical medicine.
Prof. Dr. Paul Fisch
Guest Editor
Keywords
- microarrays
- whole genome sequencing
- predictive markers
- minimal residual disease
- PCR
- FISH
- disease pathogenesis
- predictive markers
