[Hereditary haematological malignancies].

The majority of haematological malignancies represent sporadic diseases, but hereditary entities with predisposing genetic alterations have also been described. Diseases of the myeloid and lymphoid cell lineages with genetic predispositions are associated with heterogeneous clinical manifestations, with many symptoms being specific for certain cytogenetic and molecular aberrations. Apart from the myeloid predisposition syndromes with clear Mendelian inheritance patterns, cases with ambiguous predisposing factors are also known, but their role in hereditary leukemogenesis is still poorly understood.

Familial Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Myelodysplasia in Hungary.

Although genetic predisposition to haematological malignancies has long been known, genetic testing is not yet the part of the routine diagnostics. In the last ten years, next generation sequencing based studies identified novel germline mutations in the background of familial aggregation of certain haematologic disorders including myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). This is supported by the fact that the myeloid neoplasms with genetic predisposition represent a new category in the revised 2016 World Health Organization classification.

[Molecular monitoring of myeloid leukemia].

The last fifteen years brought a revolution both in treatment and diagnostics of chronic myeloid leukemia. Nowadays, the main method for monitoring of the disease is molecular monitoring with real-time PCR technology which can indicate treatment modification. With the development of the international scale and inter-laboratory standardization the residual tumor mass can be measured accurately and the results are comparable between the different laboratories.

[The genetic landscape of chronic lymphocytic leukemia].

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most frequent mature B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in the Western countries. The recent next-generation sequencing (NGS) studies lead to an exponential increase in our knowledge of the pathogenesis and progression of CLL. Whole genome and exome sequencing studies revealed a remarkable inter- and intra-patient genetic heterogeneity with a significant therapy-induced clonal evolution in the majority of the patients.

[Introduction to the molecular diagnostic methods of oncohematology].

Owing to our rapidly expanding knowledge on the genetic background of various oncohematologic diseases and the introduction of novel targeted therapies, molecular genetic techniques have been playing an increasingly important role in the diagnostics and follow-up of hematological malignancies. The various DNA- and RNA-based in situ hybridization, polymerase chain reaction and sequencing technologies are of key significance in diagnostics, classification and prognostic assessment of these diseases, as well as in the monitoring of minimal residual disease and selection of the most appropriate targeted therapy. This review provides an overview on the background and applications of the molecular methods most commonly used in oncohematological diagnostics.