Molecular Pathology in Cancer Research

A special issue of Journal of Personalized Medicine (ISSN 2075-4426). This special issue belongs to the section "Clinical Medicine, Cell, and Organism Physiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 November 2025 | Viewed by 254

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Human Pathology of the Adult and Developmental Age “Gaetano Barresi”, University of Messina, 90128 Messina, Italy
Interests: blood and lymphatic pathology; pathology of the central and peripheral nervous system; thyroid and endocrinological pathology; urological and male genital pathology; molecular pathology with a diagnostic and prognostic-therapeutic orientation; gastrointestinal pathology

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Human Pathology of the Adult and Developmental Age “Gaetano Barresi”, University of Messina, 90128 Messina, Italy
Interests: molecular pathology; diagnostic pathology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Molecular pathology combines aspects of pathology and molecular biology to understand diseases at a molecular level. It is an emerging discipline that encompasses the development of molecular and genetic approaches in the diagnosis and classification of various diseases.

Molecular pathology has become a cornerstone in cancer research due to its ability to provide detailed insights into the molecular mechanisms driving cancer development, progression, and response to treatment. Applications of molecular pathology in cancer include the identification of genetic mutations, classification of tumors, discovery of diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive biomarkers, and development of targeted therapies. Overall, it enhances the precision of diagnoses and improves the understanding of disease mechanisms.

This Special Issue aims to provide a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms of cancers and discuss the role of molecular pathology and biomarkers in the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of cancers. We encourage authors to submit original articles or reviews focusing on this topic.

Dr. Maurizio Martini
Dr. Giuseppe Giuffré
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • molecular pathology
  • diagnostic pathology
  • cancer diagnosis
  • biomarkers
  • targeted therapy
  • genomics

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 12885 KiB  
Article
The Prognostic Impact of the Tumor Immune Microenvironment in Synovial Sarcoma: An Immunohistochemical Analysis Using Digital Pathology and Conventional Interpretation
by Emilio Medina-Ceballos, Francisco Giner, Isidro Machado, Begoña Heras-Morán, Mónica Espino, Samuel Navarro and Antonio Llombart-Bosch
J. Pers. Med. 2025, 15(5), 169; https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm15050169 - 25 Apr 2025
Viewed by 133
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Innate and adaptive immune responses serve a crucial role in neoplasms. The interaction of immune cells with the neoplastic tissue influences tumor behavior, resulting in either pro-tumorigenic or anti-tumorigenic effects. However, the prognostic significance of the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) [...] Read more.
Background and Objectives: Innate and adaptive immune responses serve a crucial role in neoplasms. The interaction of immune cells with the neoplastic tissue influences tumor behavior, resulting in either pro-tumorigenic or anti-tumorigenic effects. However, the prognostic significance of the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) in synovial sarcoma (SS) remains poorly studied. This study aimed to analyze the TIME of SS to determine its impact on the prognosis by examining the intratumoral lymphocytic and macrophagic infiltrate and its potential correlation with survival and recurrence. Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study of 49 fusion-confirmed SS cases collected from two different institutions. We obtained clinical and follow-up data, and SSs were histologically classified according to WHO criteria. Immunohistochemical analysis, including of CD163, CD68, CD3, CD8, and CD20, was conducted in tissue microarrays using an analog scale. We examined the whole-slide tissue for the 23 cases with sufficient material available and then assessed the positive area by scanning the slides and analyzing the images using QuPath (0.4.4, Belfast, Northern Ireland) to calculate the positive area in an immune hotspot. We correlated the expression of these markers with clinical outcomes. A log-rank test and Kaplan–Meyer curves were used as appropriate (significance: p ≤ 0.05). Results: The most frequent morphological subtype was monophasic (59.6%), followed by biphasic (26.9%) and undifferentiated (7%). The mean disease specific survival (DSS) was 55.3 months, with a median of 33 months. The median overall survival (OS) was 50 months (range: 2–336 months). Both evaluation methods showed a good correlation for all antibodies, with Chi-square values of p < 0.05. All cases showed variable amounts of CD163-positive macrophages. The cases that showed a higher density of CD163-positive macrophages in whole-slide images subjected to digital analysis demonstrated an improved OS and DSS on Kaplan–Meier curves. Cases with lower CD8 and CD3 positivity showed a tendency toward faster progression and a slightly worse prognosis. Conclusions: The tumor immune microenvironment in sarcomas is a complex system that requires further investigation to fully understand its impact on tumorigenesis and patient clinical outcomes. Our results demonstrate that a higher amount of intratumoral CD163-positive macrophage infiltrate is associated with an increased OS and DSS. Our findings show that digital pathology is more precise than subjective quantitative analysis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Pathology in Cancer Research)
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