Genome-wide analysis of gene expression in neuroblastomas detected by mass screening.
Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common extracranial solid tumor of childhood and the third most common pediatric cancer. Although numerous factors including patient age, disease stage and genetic abnormalities have been shown to be predictive of outcome, the mechanisms responsible for the highly variable clinical behavior of this tumor remain largely unknown. In order to gain new insights into the biology of this tumor, we performed microarray analysis and compared the gene expression patterns of NB detected by mass screening, characterized by highly probable spontaneous regression, versus stage 4 NB with poor prognosis. The bioinformatics analysis revealed a set of 19 discriminatory genes that may play a significant role in the natural progression of the disease. Validation of these results and further mechanistic studies would shed new light on the biology of tumor progression, and provide new tools to predict clinical outcome in children with NB.
Krause
Alexander
A
Human Genetics Department, bioMérieux SA, 69280 Marcy l'Etoile, France.
Combaret
Valérie
V
Iacono
Isabelle
I
Lacroix
Bruno
B
Compagnon
Christelle
C
Bergeron
Christophe
C
Valsesia-Wittmann
Sandrine
S
Leissner
Philippe
P
Mougin
Bruno
B
Puisieux
Alain
A
D002675:Child, Preschool; D019295:Computational Biology; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D016678:Genome; D006801:Humans; D007120:Immunochemistry; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000235:genetics*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis