Molecular Pathology in the New Age of Personalized Medicine

Abstract

Personalized medicine is a new approach that allows the identification of patients that can benefit from targeted therapies because of the molecular characteristics of the tumors they present. The molecular profile of the tumor can be studied at the genomic (DNA), transcriptomic (RNA) or protein (protein) level. The next generation sequencing is a useful tool for the study of molecular profile from DNA/RNA. This tool requires molecular pathologists highly trained in pre-analytic processes, tumor area microdissection for tumor cell enrichment, methodology analysis and results. The in-depth study of molecular alterations in patients allows optimizing molecular diagnosis and selecting candidates for receive novel treatments against specific molecular targets. These patients are expected to benefit from multidisciplinary approach and learning. The aim of this chapter is to show the implications of molecular pathology in personalized medicine with an actual approach from the methodological limitations of formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues and their pre-analytical conditions.