Making the Case for Molecular Staging of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

Malignant pleural mesothelioma is an aggressive malignancy for which surgical treatment is an option for a subset of patients. A gene ratio test based on the relative expression levels of four genes has been validated in clinical trials to predict which patients will benefit from surgical therapy. A description of the test properties and the independent predictors for outcome are provided.

Keywords: mesothelioma, predictive test, gene ratio test, RNA expression, outcome in mesothelioma, staging of mesothelioma, surgery in mesothelioma

Division of Thoracic Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts

Address reprint requests to Raphael Bueno, MD, Division of Thoracic Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115

PII: S1043-0679(09)00078-1

doi:10.1053/j.semtcvs.2009.07.003

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