MOLECULAR PATHOLOGY - DETECTION OF NEOPLASIA

Modern concepts of neoplasia rely on the evidence that a tumor arises from the clonal progeny of a single transformed cell. This ancestral cell of the neoplasm has multiple sites of acquired, and sometimes inherited, DNA damage that all its progeny share. During the early steps of carcinogenesis, there may be genetic alterations that lead to an intrinsic genetic instability, allowing additional mutations to accumulate. These genetic changes confer selective advantages on the clone of tumor cells by disrupting the regulation of cell proliferation. This mechanism permits the evolution of tumor-cell subclones and favors neoplastic progression. The analysis of tumors… © 1994, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.