Microarray techniques in pathology: tool or toy?
Microarray technology allows the simultaneous analysis of up to thousands of different genes in histological or cytological specimens. Although microarray technology has so far mainly been applied in the research setting, its clinical application in pathology is expected in the foreseeable future. This paper presents an overview of the technical "ins and outs" of microarray technology, and discusses several putative applications in diagnostic pathology, which include tumour classification, the prediction of responses to certain chemotherapeutical or hormonal agents, the biological staging of tumours, the risk assessment of premalignant lesions, and the detection of microorganisms.
Snijders
A M
AM
Department of Pathology, University Hospital Vrije Universiteit, Box 7057, 1007 MB Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Meijer
G A
GA
Brakenhoff
R H
RH
van den Brule
A J
AJ
van Diest
P J
PJ
D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis / Q000379:methods; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization / Q000379:methods; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis / Q000379:methods*