Proposed Terminology and Classification of Pre-Malignant Neoplastic Conditions: A Consensus Proposal
Peter Valent,
Cem Akin,
Michel Arock,
Christoph Bock,
Tracy I. George,
Stephen J. Galli,
Jason Gotlib,
Torsten Haferlach,
Gregor Hoermann,
Olivier Hermine,
Ulrich Jäger,
Lukas Kenner,
Hans Kreipe,
Ravindra Majeti,
Dean D. Metcalfe,
Alberto Orfao,
Andreas Reiter,
Wolfgang R. Sperr,
Philipp B. Staber,
Karl Sotlar,
Charles Schiffer,
Giulio Superti-Furga,
Hans-Peter Horny
Affiliations
Peter Valent
Department of Internal Medicine I, Division of Hematology & Hemostaseology, Ludwig Boltzmann Cluster Oncology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Cem Akin
Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Michel Arock
LBPA CNRS UMR8113, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan, Cachan, France
Christoph Bock
CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
Tracy I. George
Department of Pathology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Stephen J. Galli
Department of Pathology and Stanford Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA,
Jason Gotlib
Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA,
Torsten Haferlach
MLL Munich Leukemia Laboratory, Munich, Germany,
Gregor Hoermann
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Olivier Hermine
Imagine Institute Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne, Paris Cité, Centre national de référence des mastocytoses, Paris, France
Ulrich Jäger
Department of Internal Medicine I, Division of Hematology & Hemostaseology, Ludwig Boltzmann Cluster Oncology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Lukas Kenner
Department of Pathology, Medical University of Vienna, Austria
Hans Kreipe
Institute of Pathology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
Ravindra Majeti
Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology, Cancer Institute, Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
Dean D. Metcalfe
Laboratory of Allergic Diseases, NIAID, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
Alberto Orfao
Servicio Central de Citometria, Centro de Investigacion del Cancer and Department of Medicine, University of Salamanca, Spain,
Andreas Reiter
Department of Hematology and Oncology, University Medical Centre Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany,
Wolfgang R. Sperr
Department of Internal Medicine I, Division of Hematology & Hemostaseology, Ludwig Boltzmann Cluster Oncology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Philipp B. Staber
Department of Internal Medicine I, Division of Hematology & Hemostaseology, Ludwig Boltzmann Cluster Oncology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Karl Sotlar
Institute of Pathology, Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria,
Charles Schiffer
Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Oncology, Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
Giulio Superti-Furga
CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
Hans-Peter Horny
Institute of Pathology, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany
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 organized in Vienna in August 2015. The outcomes of this conference are summarized herein and include a basic proposal for a nomenclature and classification of pre-malignant conditions. This proposal should assist in the communication among patients, physicians and scientists, which is critical as genome-sequencing will soon be offered widely for early cancer-detection.
