Vol 49, No 4 (2011)
Review paper
Published online: 2012-01-16
Digital pathology in personalized cancer therapy
DOI: 10.5603/FHC.2011.0080
Folia Histochem Cytobiol 2011;49(4):570-578.
Abstract
The development of small molecule inhibitors of growth factor receptors, and the discovery of somatic
mutations of the thyrosine kinase domain, have resulted in new paradigms for cancer therapy. Digital microscopy
is an important tool for surgical pathologists. The achievements in the digital pathology field have modified
the workflow of pathomorphology labs, enhanced the pathologist’s role in diagnostics, and increased their contribution
to personalized targeted medicine. Digital image analysis is now available in a variety of platforms to
improve quantification performance of diagnostic pathology. We here describe the state of digital microscopy as
it applies to the field of quantitative immunohistochemistry of biomarkers related to the clinical personalized
targeted therapy of breast cancer, non-small lung cancer and colorectal cancer: HER-2, EGFR, KRAS and
BRAF genes. The information is derived from the experience of the authors and a review of the literature.
(Folia Histochemica et Cytobiologica 2011; Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 570–578)
Keywords: digital pathologyimmunohistochemistryIHC biomarkersbreast cancerNSCLCpersonalized targeted therapyEGFRHER-2telepathology systemsquantitative analysis
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