title: Surgical procedures and postsurgical tissue processing significantly affect expression of genes and EGFR-pathway proteins in colorectal cancer tissue.
abstract: An understanding of tissue data variability in relation to processing techniques during and postsurgery would be desirable when testing surgical specimens for clinical diagnostics, drug development, or identification of predictive biomarkers. Specimens of normal and colorectal cancer (CRC) tissues removed during colon and liver resection surgery were obtained at the beginning of surgery and postsurgically, tissue was fixed at 10, 20, and 45 minutes. Specimens were analyzed from 50 patients with primary CRC and 43 with intrahepatic metastasis of CRC using a whole genome gene expression array. Additionally, we focused on the epidermal growth factor receptor pathway and quantified proteins and their phosphorylation status in relation to tissue processing timepoints. Gene and protein expression data obtained from colorectal and liver specimens were influenced by tissue handling during surgery and by postsurgical processing time. To obtain reliable expression data, tissue processing for research and diagnostic purposes needs to be highly standardized.
authors.affiliation: Indivumed GmbH, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Kerstin A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: David
authors.affiliation: Indivumed GmbH, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Florian T
authors.initials: FT
authors.lastname: Unger
authors.affiliation: Indivumed GmbH, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Uhlig
authors.affiliation: Indivumed GmbH, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Hartmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Juhl
authors.affiliation: Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.
authors.forename: Helen M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ.
authors.forename: Carolyn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Compton
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Hepatobiliary Surgery and Transplantation Surgery, University Hospital Hamburg Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Björn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nashan
authors.affiliation: Clinic for General and Visceral Surgery and Clinic for Gastroenterology, Agaplesion Diakonieklinikum Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Arnulf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dörner
authors.affiliation: Clinic for General and Visceral Surgery and Clinic for Gastroenterology, Agaplesion Diakonieklinikum Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: de Weerth
authors.affiliation: Surgical Clinic, Israelitisches Krankenhaus in Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zornig
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery; D011379:Prognosis; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C512478:EGFR protein, human; D066246:ErbB Receptors