A Comparison of Tissue Dissection Techniques for Diagnostic, Prognostic, and Theragnostic Analysis of Human Disease

Histopathology has historically been the critical technique for the diagnosis and treatment of human disease. Today, genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics from specific cells, rather than bulk tissue, have become key to understanding underlying disease mechanisms and rendering useful diagnostic information. Extraction of desired analytes, i.e., nucleic acids or proteins, from easily accessible formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues allows for clinically relevant activities, such as sequencing biomarker mutations or typing amyloidogenic proteins. Genetic profiling has become routine for cancers as varied as non-small cell lung cancer and prostatic carcinoma. The five main tissue dissection techniques that have been developed thus far include: bulk scraping, manual macrodissection, manual microdissection, laser-capture microdissection, and expression microdissection. In this review, we discuss the importance of tissue dissection in clinical practice and research, the basic methods, applications, as well as some advantages and disadvantages for each modality.