MOLECULAR ONCOLOGY AND THE SURGEON

The last 20 years have witnessed a flood of new developments and disco veries in the fields of molecular biology and oncology. Dozens of huma n genes associated with cancer predisposition syndromes and the malign ant and metastatic process have been identified and characterized. The se findings have led to a greater understanding of this complex diseas e and inaugurated a new era of investigations seeking more effective d iagnostic protocols and therapies. This review summarizes a few of the many salient discoveries and discusses the clinical implications for the surgeon.