Onkológia 1/2011

The pathologist´s contribution for a targeted biological therapy of neoplastic disorders

The aim of the review article is to summarize the possibilities and duties of the modern pathology by analyzing the bioptically examined tumor tissue within a process of consideration of an appropriate targeted therapy. The adequate and precise diagnosis and typing of the tumor seems to be the first step of this process, followed by analyses of the protein or gene structures,which are considered to represent possible targets of the therapy. The methodological possibilities of molecular biological analysis of the formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tumor tissue are reviewed, together with an overview of the potential targets of the selected and most commonly analyzed cancers. Also the examples of the national centralized programes of these examinations in Slovakia are referred.

Keywords: typing of the tumor, targeted biological therapy, molecular pathology, centralized programs of the diagnosis of neoplastic disorders.