[Gene apoptosis expression profiles in liver cancer and their comparison to normal peri-cancerous liver tissues].
OBJECTIVE
To describe a few gene expression profiles related to apoptosis and to demonstrate their difference between the liver cancer and its adjacent normal tissues.


METHODS
cDNA, labeled as a-32P dATP was synthesized from the total RNA of cancer and adjacent normal tissues and, then, hybridized individually with two identical array membranes of Atlas human cancer dDNA expression containing 588 known genes. The method involving gene-specific semi-quantitative reverse transcription in the polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to confirm the expression pattern of three known genes.


RESULTS
Autoradiographic results were analyzed by specific AtlasImage (version 1.01a) software. Among 69 genes that were found to be related to apoptosis, 4 were up-related, including Aktl, and 19 were down-related, including BAK, Caspase-3, etc., all being related to cancer. The RT-PCR results showed that the expression pattern of all genes was in agreement with the results of Atlas expression array.


CONCLUSIONS
The result obtained from Atlas microarray provides a liver cancer-specific expression profile related to apoptosis. The discovery about the apoptosis related genes may yield some clues on the oncogenetic mechanism of liver cancer in the future. The differential hybridization technique of cDNA expression array involving the Atlas human cancer can become a useful method in the understanding of the development and progression of human cancer.
Liu
L
L
National Laboratory of Molecular Oncology, Cancer Institute, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100021, China.
Zhou
J
J
Wang
X
X
D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D053148:Caspase 3; D020169:Caspases / Q000235:genetics; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D015221:Potassium Channels / Q000235:genetics; D050998:bcl-2 Homologous Antagonist-Killer Protein
D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; C494772:BAK1 protein, human; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D010940:Plant Proteins; D015221:Potassium Channels; D050998:bcl-2 Homologous Antagonist-Killer Protein; C074500:AKT1 protein, Arabidopsis; C505407:CASP3 protein, human; D053148:Caspase 3; D020169:Caspases