title: Web-based interrogation of gene expression signatures using EXALT.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Widespread use of high-throughput techniques such as microarrays to monitor gene expression levels has resulted in an explosive growth of data sets in public domains. Integration and exploration of these complex and heterogeneous data have become a major challenge.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The EXALT (EXpression signature AnaLysis Tool) online program enables meta-analysis of gene expression profiles derived from publically accessible sources. Searches can be executed online against two large databases currently containing more than 28,000 gene expression signatures derived from GEO (Gene Expression Omnibus) and published expression profiles of human cancer. Comparisons among gene expression signatures can be performed with homology analysis and co-expression analysis. Results can be visualized instantly in a plot or a heat map. Three typical use cases are illustrated.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The EXALT online program is uniquely suited for discovering relationships among transcriptional profiles and searching gene expression patterns derived from diverse physiological and pathological settings. The EXALT online program is freely available for non-commercial users from http://seq.mc.vanderbilt.edu/exalt/.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232-0275, USA.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Qingchao
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fullerton
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shyr
authors.forename: Alfred L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: George
authors.forename: Yajun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yi
mesh_terms: D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods*; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D015870:Gene Expression; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D012984:Software