Hematological Malignancies -- PCR of Gene Rearrangements for the Detection of Minimal Residual Disease in Childhood ALL -- Detection of BCR-ABL in Hematological Malignancies by RT-PCR -- Molecular Diagnosis of Acute Myeloid Leukemia with Maturation, FAB-Type M2 -- Analysis of the PML/RAR-? Fusion Gene in Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia by Reverse-Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction -- RT-PCR Analysis of Breakpoints Involving the MLL Gene Located at 11q23 in Acute Leukemia -- Polymerase Chain Reaction for Detection of the t(14;18) Translocation in Lymphomas -- NPM-ALK Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction Analysis for Detection of the t(2;5) Translocation of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma -- Molecular Diagnosis of the 5q Deletion in Malignant Myeloid Disorders -- Polymerase Chain Reaction Based Methods for Assessing Chimerism Following Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplantation -- Solid Tumors -- Identification of Mutations in the Retinoblastoma Gene -- Mutational Analysis of the Wilms' Tumor (WTI) Gene -- General Techniques for Cancer Analysis -- Single-Strand Conformation Polymorphism Mutation Analysis of the p53 Gene -- The Characterization of Chromosomal Abnormalities Using Fluorescence In SituHybridization Procedures -- Comparative Genomic Hybridization -- In Situ Hybridization of Cells and Tissue Sections -- Apoptosis Detection by DNA Analysis.

The aims of Molecular Diagnosis of Cancer are to introduce scientists and physicians working in the field of diagnostics to the area of cancer molecular pathology and to highlight the possibilities of its application to the cancer physician in the clinic. The degree of molecular biological expertise required should be minimal, although those with more experience may also be able to benefit from the book. All of the authors have considerable practical experience in the method they describe and are working predominantly in the setting of the cancer clinic. As such, the book pulls together a number of te- niques that are already being applied to a wide range of malignancies. Mo- over, this field will continue to expand exponentially as further research leads to a greater understanding of the molecular basis of cancer. Detection of the changes to the DNA or RNA code within a diseased cell often provides pathological information for the diagnosis, prognosis, and m- agement of the disease. Such DNA-related analysis is primarily the role of molecular pathology. Methods to detect these alterations are being refined and are evolving from the research to the diagnostic laboratory. One of the single most powerful techniques in this new branch of pathology has been the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), to which much of this book is devoted.