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Maja Oktay, M.D., Ph.D., and Sumanta Goswami, Ph.D., describe a new technique for detecting genetic alterations in minute tissue samples from thyroid and non-small cell lung cancers. Fine needle aspiration (FNA) allows pathologists to obtain small amounts of tumor tissue for cytological assessment. But the low number of cells recoverable through FNA usually prevents molecular diagnostics that could detect mutational changes. Using an ultrasensitive analytical method on FNA samples as small as 50 cells, Drs. Oktay and Goswami successfully detected several common thyroid and lung cancer mutations and translocations. The technique, described in the online edition of the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, published on February 24, 2016, could potentially increase the number of cancer biopsies on which molecular diagnostics could be performed and the number of patients who can be offered personalized therapy. Dr. Oktay is associate professor of pathology; Dr. Goswami is associate professor of anatomy and structural biology at Einstein, as well as associate professor and co-chair of biology at Yeshiva University.
Posted on: Friday, February 26, 2016