Carcinoma do pulmão. Interesse da biologia molecular no diagnóstico e prognóstico

AbstractMolecular pathology in lung cancer, pre-neoplastic lesions and hyperplasias, may be studied by applying diagnostic methods available in biology, using cells as well as formalin-fixed-paraffin-embedded tissues. Distinction between squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma can be made through different patterns of genetic alterations but still with a number of similarities. Chromosome 7 is a target of first choice to evaluate genetic modifications in either carcinomas and premalignant lesions although the latter have not yet been completely clarified in lung carcinomas. Survival and metastasis potentiality can be predicted also by determination of genes expression