title: Gene expression patterns in human liver cancers.
abstract: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of death worldwide. Using cDNA microarrays to characterize patterns of gene expression in HCC, we found consistent differences between the expression patterns in HCC compared with those seen in nontumor liver tissues. The expression patterns in HCC were also readily distinguished from those associated with tumors metastatic to liver. The global gene expression patterns intrinsic to each tumor were sufficiently distinctive that multiple tumor nodules from the same patient could usually be recognized and distinguished from all the others in the large sample set on the basis of their gene expression patterns alone. The distinctive gene expression patterns are characteristic of the tumors and not the patient; the expression programs seen in clonally independent tumor nodules in the same patient were no more similar than those in tumors from different patients. Moreover, clonally related tumor masses that showed distinct expression profiles were also distinguished by genotypic differences. Some features of the gene expression patterns were associated with specific phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of the tumors, including growth rate, vascular invasion, and p53 overexpression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Siu Tim
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: So
authors.forename: Sheung Tat
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barry
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Higgins
authors.forename: Kin-Man
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Jiafu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Sandrine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dudoit
authors.forename: Irene O L
authors.initials: IO
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: Matt
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Van De Rijn
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Botstein
authors.forename: Patrick O
authors.initials: PO
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D002455:Cell Division / Q000235:genetics; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D016158:Genes, p53; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000502:physiology*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D012334:RNA, Neoplasm