Discovery Science and Integrating Molecular Diagnosis into Clinical Practice

Abstract SCI-31

Recent discoveries have yielded profound insights into the genetic basis of myeloid malignancies. A central challenge is now to translate these discoveries into clinical practice. Genetic lesions are powerfully associated with specific aspects of clinical phenotype, including hematologic parameters, particular morphologic abnormalities, response to therapy, and overall survival. Moreover, gene expression profiling, evaluation of microRNA expression, and epigenetic analyses add further biological, prognostic, and predictive information. Current research studies aim to integrate existing clinical prognostic scoring systems with molecular data to refine the taxonomy of myeloid malignancies, to improve the prediction of prognosis and response to specific therapies, and to develop novel therapeutic strategies based on insights into disease biology.