Proposed Terminology and Classification of Pre-Malignant Neoplastic Conditions: A Consensus Proposal.

ABSTRACT: Cancer evolution is a step-wise non-linear process that may start early in life or later in adulthood, and includes pre-malignant (indolent) and malignant phases. Early somatic changes may not be detectable or are found by chance in apparently healthy individuals. The same lesions may be detected in pre-malignant clonal conditions. In some patients, these lesions may never become relevant clinically whereas in others, they act together with additional pro-oncogenic hits and thereby contribute to the formation of an overt malignancy. Although some pre-malignant stages of a malignancy have been characterized, no global system to define and to classify these conditions is available. To discuss open issues related to pre-malignant phases of neoplastic disorders, a working conference was organi

SUBMITTER: Valent P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5832623 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature