Cancer precursor lesions project
31 January 2024
I am compiling a spreadsheet of all human cancers and their precursor lesions to better understand how cancer arises. The current version is here. I plan to update this spreadsheet regularly.
This is my personal project - it is NOT overseen by the PathologyOutlines.com Editorial Board.
This project is intended for pathologists and other scientists, but I want the general public to know about it to better understand:
How science advances, at least for me: I start with an idea, work on it, show it to others and then see where it goes. Will I get better ideas? Will it encourage others to work on it and advance the idea? Nobody knows.
The first draft of this spreadsheet lists 1225 distinctive malignant diagnoses throughout the human body. This number will probably decrease as others show me or I discover that some malignancies listed are essentially the same and should not be listed twice. However, it is clear that there are hundreds of types of cancer and no single treatment will be adequate for all of them.
Most malignancies do not have a known precursor lesion. If they did, we would better understand how cancer arises and would have more effective treatments. The goal of this project is to fill in the spreadsheet with more known precursor lesions, either with existing knowledge that I am not aware of or with new knowledge by other scientists.
What constitutes malignancy is subjective. Some diagnoses have only some features of malignancy - should they be included or not?
I am seeking input from Pathologists and others regarding these questions:
* What diagnoses should be added or removed from this list?
* Can my definition of malignancy be improved to make the list more meaningful?
I am including diagnoses from the World Health Organization (WHO) or well described in the literature that are traditionally considered malignant or that routinely have invasive or locally aggressive properties.
* Are some diagnoses duplicative because they are essentially the same within or at different sites?
* What precursor lesions should be added for any of the diagnoses listed?
* Are you interested in identifying precursor lesions based on molecular patterns for diagnoses with or without known histologic precursors?
Click here for more information on this project.
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