title: Identification of differentially expressed genes in salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma cells associated with metastasis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma (SACC) is a frequent type of salivary gland cancer which is characterized by slow growth but high incidence of distant metastasis. We aimed to identify therapeutic targets which are associated with metastasis of SACC.
  
  
  METHODS
  Total RNA was isolated from a low metastatic SACC cell line (ACC-2) and a highly metastatic SACC cell line (ACC-M), which was screened from ACC-2 by combination of in vivo selection and cloning in vitro. Then the total RNA was subjected to microarray analysis. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened from ACC-M compared with ACC-2, followed by Gene Ontology function and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis. Function annotation for DEGs also was performed. A protein-protein interaction network (PPI) was constructed for DEGs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 1128 DEGs were identified from ACC-M cells compared with ACC-2 cells. Both up- and down-regulated DEGs were enriched in different functions in biological process (BP), cellular component (CC) and molecular function (MF). Additionally, down-regulated DEGs were mainly enriched in "Apoptosis" and "Cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction" pathways which involved IFN-α1, NTRK1 and TGF-β1. In the PPI network, PIK3CA, PTPN11 and PIK3R1 had a number of nodes greater than 10.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Transforming growth factor β1 might play a pivotal role during lung metastasis of SACC and be selected as a candidate target for treatment of metastatic SACC. IFNA1, NTRK1 and PIK3CA were also associated with tumor metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, Jinling Hospital, School of Medicine, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, Jinling Hospital, School of Medicine, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Bing-Yao
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, Jinling Hospital, School of Medicine, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Xi'an Jiaotong University College of Medicine, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Ge
authors.initials: XG
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, Jinling Hospital, School of Medicine, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, Jinling Hospital, School of Medicine, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, Jinling Hospital, School of Medicine, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Sen-Lin
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Zhang
keywords: adenoid cystic carcinoma; function annotation; metastasis; protein-protein interaction