Abstract
There are an increasing number of cancer therapies that target specific molecular pathways that drive disease progression in a number of solid tumors requiring companion diagnostic assays. The testing for these tumors usually involves analyzing the tumor on a molecular level for the presence or absence of certain cancer gene signatures or biomarkers. In order for the correct treatment regimen to be determined, the test results need to be an accurate picture of what the patient’s tumor is in vivo. With the increase of this type of molecular testing on solid tumors, there has developed an urgent need to preserve the integrity of these molecular markers in the tissues being tested. A long delay between removal of the tissue from the patient and preservation of the tissue can result in degradation or alterations in the molecular integrity of the tissue, confounding analysis. This chapter will review the data about these important preanalytic variables; discuss the need for standardized tissue handling procedures, and offer solutions.
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Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank Ms. Mary Jackson for her assistance in manuscript preparation. The author would also like to thank and acknowledge the work of Emma Tillett, Kristin McCarthy, Robyn Sage, Laurie Baxter, and Michelle Fuller from the department of Pathology as well as the operating room staff for their help and support for improving the quality of human tissue samples collected in our institution.
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Hicks, D.G. (2016). Preanalytic Variables, Tissue Quality and Clinical Samples from Breast Cancer Patients: Implications for Treatment Planning, Drug Discovery and Translational Research. In: Badve, S., Gökmen-Polar, Y. (eds) Molecular Pathology of Breast Cancer. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41761-5_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41761-5_2
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