Lineage and Molecular Marker Integration in Diagnosis and Differential Diagnosis of Neck Tumors

Integration of molecular and genomic markers with pathological assessment is fundamental to advancing current and future diagnostic pathology and cytology practices. The utilization of molecular, lineage, and biological markers, however, must be judicial and based on clear understanding of the technical and interpretive limitations and compelling evidence of clinical validity. This is largely due to the inherent heterogeneity of biological and genetic markers and the lack of established guidelines. In this chapter, molecular markers assayed by varied techniques for protein, RNA, and DNA markers of potential diagnostic, clinical, and therapeutic potential are succinctly presented and discussed. It is inevitable, however, that overlapping, redundancy, and discordance may be encountered with other chapter on the utilization, validity, and role of certain markers.