Analysis of gene expression in human colorectal cancer tissues by cDNA array.
BACKGROUND
The development and progression of cancer are accompanied by complex changes in patterns of gene expression. The purpose of this study was to clarify the relevance of macroarray analysis of human colorectal cancer tissues.


METHODS
Hybridization of cDNA macroarray filters on which 550 genes had been spotted was performed with biotin-labeled cDNA targets that were prepared from mRNA extracted from 20 pairs of colorectal cancer and corresponding noncancerous tissues. Expression of differentially expressed genes was further studied by semiquantitative RT-PCR.


RESULTS
Fourteen (2.5%) of the 550 genes were differentially expressed and up- or downregulated in cancer tissues by at least threefold compared with matched noncancerous tissues in 10 or more of the 20 patients. The genes that were upregulated in cancer tissues were associated with transcription, cell cycle, growth factor receptor, cell adhesion, extracellular matrix-degrading enzymes, and angiogenesis, and the downregulated genes were those involved in apoptosis and immune recognition. Semiquantitative RT-PCR analysis of these differentially expressed genes gave results consistent with those by cDNA array analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
Although the macroarray used in this study contained only a small number of genes, our results support the feasibility and usefulness of this approach to study variation in gene expression patterns in human colorectal cancer tissues. The results also suggest the possibility of a diagnostic application of cDNA macroarrays in daily clinical settings.
Yamamoto
Hiroyuki
H
First Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, South 1, West 16, Chuo-ku, Sapporo 060-8543, Japan.
Imsumran
Arisa
A
Fukushima
Hiroshi
H
Adachi
Yasushi
Y
Min
Yongfen
Y
Iku
Shouhei
S
Horiuchi
Shina
S
Yoshida
Mio
M
Shimada
Kazuko
K
Sasaki
Shigeru
S
Itoh
Fumio
F
Endo
Takao
T
Imai
Kohzoh
K
D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D046508:Culture Techniques; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D018076:DNA, Complementary