Nouveaux facteurs pronostiques biologiques des sarcomes des tissus mous

Summary ant tumors of soft tissue constitute a very heterogeneous group of tumors which is composed of more than 50 different entities derived from either the mesenchyme or the neuroectoderm. Diagnostic problems can be linked to the difficulty to firmly establish the diagnosis of malignancy and to the precise determination of the type of sarcoma. The prognostic is largely dependent on local and distant extension of the cancer. The study of the genotype of tumor cells has enabled the detection and characterization of genetic alterations. These alterations, frequently chromosome translocations, are specific markers for subgroups of tumors and can thus be of clinical relevance. These markers can be detected by cytogenetic, in situ hybridization or molecular biology techniques. The specificity of these alterations for tumor cells and the possibility to detect them with the highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique have enabled development of tests aimed at the detection of tumor cells within potential metastatic sites.