Molecular Pathology in the New Age of Personalized Medicine

Abstract

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