Books

Ewing sarcoma (EwS) is a rare bone or soft tissue tumor that occurs early in life, suggesting genetic variation is likely a major contributor to EwS risk. To date, genetic investigations have identified key somatic mutations and germline variants of importance for EwS risk. [...]

Different methods have been described for the preservation of biopsy or resection samples. In routine pathology, the cheapest and most used method is fixation of samples in formalin and embedding in paraffin (FFPE samples). [...]

Altered metabolism is a hallmark of cancer, where rewiring of cellular metabolic pathways is essential for tumor initiation, support of rapid proliferation, and adaptation to new metastatic sites. Metabolomics has emerged as a powerful tool to comprehensively characterize the metabolome of cancers and holds promise to transform understanding of how oncogenes can drive tumorigenesis and metastasis, identify cancer-specific metabolic dependencies, and provide novel therapeutic opportunities. [...]

The diagnosis of Ewing sarcoma requires integrating information from numerous techniques, some of which are very sophisticated. However, the first steps of the diagnostic process are crucial to achieve the maximum possible diagnostic performance. [...]

Gene expression and knockdown systems are powerful tools for studying the function of single genes and their interactions within pathways. Plasmid transfection and viral transduction have revolutionized the field of molecular biology and paved the way for various gene-editing strategies such as TALEN, Zink finger nucleases, and ultimately CRISPR. [...]

Reporter gene assays allow for examining the influence of regulatory DNA sequences on the transcription of target genes. In Ewing sarcoma, the study of these DNA sequences is paramount because the disease's main driver mutation is a fusion transcription factor that binds distinct motifs compared with its wild-type constituents. [...]

Cell proliferation is broadly defined as the process that increases cell number, essentially depending on a balance among cell cycle progression, cell division, cell death, and cellular senescence. Deregulation of cell proliferation is a key feature of cancer cells, making assessment of proliferation a central methodological issue in cancer research. [...]

Developing new effective therapies for Ewing sarcoma (EwS) is crucial to improving patient outcomes, especially in cases of metastatic or recurrent disease. In various stages of drug discovery and especially early preclinical development, cell viability assays are often used to assess the antitumor efficacy of compounds of interest. [...]

Metastasis is a complex, well-orchestrated process, which includes migration from the primary tumor and invasion into secondary locations as main features. In Ewing sarcoma, metastasis is the main determinant of malignancy, with ~30% of patients presenting with metastatic disease at diagnosis. [...]

Colony formation assays enable an assessment of the cells' ability to grow in colonies under in vitro conditions. Following the seeding and an incubation period, the cell colonies are stained using a crystal violet staining solution, and the resulting colonies are imaged and assessed. [...]