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Diagnostic Pathology (diagnostic + pathology)
Selected AbstractsBayesian classification of tumours by using gene expression dataJOURNAL OF THE ROYAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY: SERIES B (STATISTICAL METHODOLOGY), Issue 2 2005Bani K. Mallick Summary., Precise classification of tumours is critical for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Diagnostic pathology has traditionally relied on macroscopic and microscopic histology and tumour morphology as the basis for the classification of tumours. Current classification frameworks, however, cannot discriminate between tumours with similar histopathologic features, which vary in clinical course and in response to treatment. In recent years, there has been a move towards the use of complementary deoxyribonucleic acid microarrays for the classi-fication of tumours. These high throughput assays provide relative messenger ribonucleic acid expression measurements simultaneously for thousands of genes. A key statistical task is to perform classification via different expression patterns. Gene expression profiles may offer more information than classical morphology and may provide an alternative to classical tumour diagnosis schemes. The paper considers several Bayesian classification methods based on reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces for the analysis of microarray data. We consider the logistic likelihood as well as likelihoods related to support vector machine models. It is shown through simulation and examples that support vector machine models with multiple shrinkage parameters produce fewer misclassification errors than several existing classical methods as well as Bayesian methods based on the logistic likelihood or those involving only one shrinkage parameter. [source] THE MOLECULAR FUTURE IN CYTOLOGYCYTOPATHOLOGY, Issue 2006M. Salto-Tellez Molecular diagnosis is the application of molecular biology techniques and knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of disease to diagnosis, prognostication and treatment of diseases. Molecular Diagnosis is, arguably, the fastest growing area of diagnostic medicine. The US market for molecular testing generated $1.3 billion in 2000, which was predicted to increase to about $4.2 billion by 2007.1 We proposed the term Diagnostic Molecular Cytopathology to define the application of molecular diagnosis to cytopathology2. Diagnostic Molecular Cytopathology is essential for the following reasons: (i) Molecular testing is sometimes indispensable to establish an unequivocal diagnosis on cell preparations; (ii) Molecular testing provides extra information on the prognosis or therapy of diseases diagnosed by conventional cytology; (iii) Molecular testing provides genetic information on the inherited nature of diseases that can be directly investigated in cytology samples, by either exfoliation or by fine needle aspiration; (iv) Sometimes the cytopathology sample is the most convenient (or the only available) source of material for molecular testing; (v). Direct molecular interrogation of cells allows for a diagnostic correlation that would otherwise not be possible. Parallel to this direct diagnostic implication, cytopathology is increasing important in the validation of biomarkers for specific diseases, and in therefore of significant importance in the overall translational research strategies. We illustrate its application in some of the main areas of oncology molecular testing, such as molecular fingerprinting of neoplasms,3 lymphoreticular diseases,2 sarcomas4 and lung cancer,5 as well as translational research using diagnostic cytopathology techniques. The next years will see the consolidation of Diagnostic Molecular Cytopathology, a process that will lead to a change of many paradigms. In general, diagnostic pathology departments will have to reorganize molecular testing to pursue a cost-efficient operation. Sample preparation will have to take into account optimal preservation of nuclear acids. The training of technical staff and the level of laboratory quality control and quality assurance would have to follow strict clinical (not research) laboratory parameters. And, most importantly, those pathologists undertaking molecular diagnosis as a discipline would have to develop their professional expertise within the same framework of fellowships and professional credentials that is offered in other sub-specialties. The price to pay if this effort is not undertaken is too important for the future of diagnostic pathology in general. The increasing characterization of molecular biomarkers with diagnostic, prognostic or therapeutic value is making the analysis of tissue and cell samples prior to treatment a more complex exercise. If cytopathologists and histopathologists allow others to take charge of molecular diagnosis, our overall contribution to the diagnostic process will be diminished. We may not become less important, but we may become less relevant. However, those within the discipline of diagnostic pathology who can combine the clinical background of diseases with the morphological, immunocytochemical and molecular diagnostic interpretation will represent bona fide diagnostic specialists. Such ,molecular cytopathologists' would place themselves at the centre of clinical decision-making. Reference:, 1. Liz Fletcher. Roche leads molecular diagnostics charge. Nature Biotechnol 20, 6,7; 2002 2. Salto-Tellez M and Koay ESC. Molecular Diagnostic Cytopathology - Definitions, Scope and Clinical Utility. Cytopathology 2004; 15:252,255 3. Salto-Tellez M, Zhang D, Chiu LL, Wang SC, Nilsson B, and Koay ESC. Immunocytochemistry Versus Molecular Fingerprinting of Metastases. Cytopathology, 2003 Aug; 14(4):186,90. 4. Chiu LL, Koay SCE, Chan NL and Salto-Tellez M. Molecular Cytopathology: Sequencing of the EWS-WT1 Gene Fusion Transcript in the Peritoneal Effusion of a Patient with Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumour. Diagnostic Cytopathology, 2003 Dec; 29(6): 341,3. 5. TM Chin, D Anuar, R Soo, M Salto-Tellez, WQ Li, B Ahmad, SC Lee, BC Goh, K Kawakami, A Segal, B Iacopetta, R Soong. Sensitive and Cost-Effective deptection of epidermal growth factor Receptor Mutations in Small Biopsies by denaturing High Performance Liquid Chromatography. (In press). [source] Molecular diagnosis in dermatopathology: What makes sense, and what doesn'tEXPERIMENTAL DERMATOLOGY, Issue 1 2009Markus Braun-Falco Abstract:, Molecular techniques have provided us with a wealth of information about biological events in healthy individual, and improved tremendously our understanding about the pathogenesis of a huge variety of cutaneous diseases. Those methods have originally been invented to support basic scientific investigations on a molecular level and are translated increasingly into sophisticated diagnostic tools changing the classic paradigm of diagnostic pathology; among them are immunohistochemistry (IHC), polymerase chain reaction (PCR), G-banding, loss of heterozygosity, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), chromogen in situ hybridization (CISH), comparative genomic hybridization on chromosomes and microarray technology. Some of them such as IHC and PCR have already been standardized to a level that allows its utility in daily routine diagnostics for several dermatological diseases. For others like array-based technologies, their optimal indications await to be fully determined. These ancillary methods have the great potential to contribute important new information to challenging cases, and will help to improve diagnostic accuracy particularly in cases in which conventional histopathology is ambiguous. Thus, they will broaden our armamentarium for diagnostic pathology. Herein, some key techniques will be reviewed and their applicability towards the diagnosis of dermatological diseases critically discussed. [source] Molecular pathology of chromophobe renal cell carcinoma: A reviewINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF UROLOGY, Issue 7 2010Maria V Yusenko Abstract The recognition of chromophobe renal cell carcinoma (RCC) among other distinct types of renal cell tumors (RCT) based on light-microscopic features, such as cytoplasmic and nuclear characteristics, might pose a dilemma in some cases because of morphological pattern overlapping with renal oncocytoma or conventional RCC. The present article reviews chromophobe RCC with focus on aspects of its molecular pathology, which was shown using ancillary modern microarray-based technology that can distinguish it from its mimics and therefore be helpful for its correct diagnosis. Although the high resolution DNA-microarray analyses excluded with all certainty the occurrence of small specific alterations, the loss of entire chromosomes 2, 10, 13, 17 and 21 occurs exclusively in chromophobe RCC and therefore probes localized at these chromosomes might be used to establish the diagnosis of chromophobe RCC in cases with uncertain histology. The usefulness of proposed candidate genes selected by the global gene expression analyses in the diagnostic pathology is far below expectations. The conflicting staining patterns, together with the poor specificity of used antibodies, leads us to believe that these candidate immunomarkers might not help in the separation of chromophobe RCC, with the exception of CD82, which has recently been suggested to be used for routine histological diagnosis. [source] Pathology of soft-tissue tumors: Daily diagnosis, molecular cytogenetics and experimental approachPATHOLOGY INTERNATIONAL, Issue 8 2009Hiroshi Iwasaki This article reviews problems in diagnostic pathology and molecular cytogenetics of soft-tissue tumors. Also discussed are the origin of soft-tissue sarcomas and the molecular basis of effective target therapy for sarcomas. Molecular cytogenetic analysis of tumor-specific chromosomal translocations and associated fusion gene transcripts offers a useful adjunct to the diagnosis of soft-tissue tumors, but recent studies have indicated a growing number of fusion gene variations in each tumor type. In pleomorphic sarcoma/malignant fibrous histiocytoma, the alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) mechanism may result in formation of anaphase bridges and marked nuclear pleomorphism. The histogenesis of soft-tissue sarcomas has been a matter of controversy. In the present experimental model using s.c. injection of 3-methylcholanthrene in C57BL/6 mice pretreated with bone marrow-transplantation from green fluorescent protein (GFP)-positive green mice, the bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells as well as the tissue-resident mesenchymal cells in the peripheral soft tissues are possible originators of sarcomagenesis. Little is known about a molecular basis of target therapy for sarcomas. Platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) enhances the invasive activity of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST) cells through platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR) phosphorylation, whereas imatinib mesylate inhibited such activity, suggesting that targeting PDGFR-, may result in the establishment of novel treatment for MPNST. In addition, emmprin is a transmembrane glycoprotein on tumor cells that stimulates peritumoral fibroblasts to produce matrix metalloproteinases (MMP), playing a crucial role in tumor progression, invasion and metastasis. The MMP upregulation mechanism mediated by tumor-associated emmprin may be a potentially useful target in anti-tumor invasion therapy for sarcomas. [source] | ||||||||||