Simulating an investigative study of clinical cancer samples: use of tissue slides and PCR-based promoter-hypermethylation analysis.
Topics on the molecular basis underlying cancer are quite popular among students. Also, excellent textbooks abound that provide interesting materials for discussion during lectures and tutorials about major events leading to cancer formation and progression. However, much less is available for students to conduct experiments for the analysis of cancer samples in undergraduate modules where there is a limited time-frame. Given the difficulty of working with cancer samples and the scarcity of good samples even in the clinical laboratories, it is impossible to run large-class practicals using patients' samples. Here, we describe the use of tissue slides in combination with polymerase-chain reaction (PCR) as a means of simulating an investigative approach to supplement students' learning of clinical research. By using tissue slides for histo-pathological examinations and specific budding yeast genomic DNA and primers adapted to demonstrate methylation-specific PCR, we designed an inquiry-based lab session to simulate the clinical investigation of a cohort of biopsies that students could analyze in a one-session practical.
Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Singapore, 117597.
Yuan Yuan
YY
Chew
Cheen Fei
CF
Chin
Foong May
FM
Yeong
D019175:DNA Methylation; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012106:Research / Q000193:education*
cancer biology; data analysis; histo-pathology; methylation-specific PCR; promoter-hypermethylation