title: Laser-assisted microdissection in translational research: theory, technical considerations, and future applications.
abstract: Molecular profiling already exerts a profound influence on biomedical research and disease management. Microdissection technologies contribute to the molecular profiling of diseases, enabling investigators to probe genetic characteristics and dissect functional physiology within specific cell populations. Laser-capture microdissection (LCM), in particular, permits collation of genetic, epigenetic, and gene expression differences between normal, premalignant, and malignant cell populations. Its selectivity for specific cell populations promises to greatly improve the diagnosis and management of many human diseases. LCM has been extensively used in cancer research, contributing to the understanding of tumor biology by mutation detection, clonality analysis, epigenetic alteration assessment, gene expression profiling, proteomics, and metabolomics. In this review, we focus on LCM applications for DNA, RNA, and protein analysis in specific cell types and on commercially available LCM platforms. These analyses could clinically be used as aids to cancer diagnosis, clinical management, genomic profile studies, and targeted therapy. In this review, we also discuss the technical details of tissue preparation, analytical yields, tissue selection, and selected applications using LCM.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis 46202, USA. liang_cheng@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Shaobo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Gregory T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: MacLennan
authors.forename: Sean R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Williamson
authors.forename: Darrell D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.forename: Mingsheng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Timothy D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lopez-Beltran
authors.forename: Rodolfo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Montironi
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis*; D057890:Epigenomics / Q000379:methods; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D061346:Laser Capture Microdissection / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D012313:RNA / Q000032:analysis*; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D012313:RNA; D004247:DNA