Tissue microarrays for high-throughput molecular profiling of tumor specimens

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Many genes and signalling pathways controlling cell proliferation, death and differentiation, as well as genomic integrity, are involved in cancer development. New techniques, such as serial analysis of gene expression and cDNA microarrays, have enabled measurement of the expression of thousands of genes in a single experiment, revealing many new, potentially important cancer genes. These genome screening tools can comprehensively survey one tumor at a time; however, analysis of hundreds of specimens from patients in different stages of disease is needed to establish the diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic importance of each of the emerging cancer gene candidates. Here we have developed an array-based high-throughput technique that facilitates gene expression and copy number surveys of very large numbers of tumors. As many as 1000 cylindrical tissue biopsies from individual tumors can be distributed in a single tumor tissue microarray. Sections of the microarray provide targets for parallel in situ detection of DNA, RNA and protein targets in each specimen on the array, and consecutive sections allow the rapid analysis of hundreds of molecular markers in the same set of specimens. Our detection of six gene amplifications as well as p53 and estrogen receptor expression in breast cancer demonstrates the power of this technique for defining new subgroups of tumors.

Related collections

Most cited references 11

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Use of a cDNA microarray to analyse gene expression patterns in human cancer.

J DeRisi, L Penland, P O Brown … (1996)

The development and progression of cancer and the experimental reversal of tumorigenicity are accompanied by complex changes in patterns of gene expression. Microarrays of cDNA provide a powerful tool for studying these complex phenomena. The tumorigenic properties of a human melanoma cell line, UACC-903, can be suppressed by introduction of a normal human chromosome 6, resulting in a reduction of growth rate, restoration of contact inhibition, and suppression of both soft agar clonogenicity and tumorigenicity in nude mice. We used a high density microarray of 1,161 DNA elements to search for differences in gene expression associated with tumour suppression in this system. Fluorescent probes for hybridization were derived from two sources of cellular mRNA [UACC-903 and UACC-903(+6)] which were labelled with different fluors to provide a direct and internally controlled comparison of the mRNA levels corresponding to each arrayed gene. The fluorescence signals representing hybridization to each arrayed gene were analysed to determine the relative abundance in the two samples of mRNAs corresponding to each gene. Previously unrecognized alterations in the expression of specific genes provide leads for further investigation of the genetic basis of the tumorigenic phenotype of these cells.

0 comments Cited 229 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

ERBB2 amplification in breast cancer analyzed by fluorescence in situ hybridization.

O P Kallioniemi, A Kallioniemi, W Kurisu … (1992)

We illustrate the use of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for analysis of ERBB2 oncogene copy number, the level of amplification (here defined as the ratio of ERBB2 copy number to copy number of chromosome 17 centromeres), and the distribution of amplified genes in breast cancer cell lines and uncultured primary breast carcinomas. The relative ERBB2 copy number determined by FISH in 10 breast cancer cell lines correlated strongly with Southern blot results (r = 0.98) when probes for an identical reference locus were used in the two methods. Metaphase analysis of cell lines showed that amplified ERBB2 copies always occurred in intrachromosomal clusters but that the number and chromosomal location of these clusters varied among the cell lines. In interphase nuclei of primary tumors showing ERBB2 amplification (10/44), ERBB2 copies were seen as one to four clusters, also suggesting intrachromosomal localization. Regardless of the average level of amplification, all these tumors contained highly amplified cell subpopulations with at least 25, and sometimes more than 100, ERBB2 copies per cell. Tumors that did not show amplification by FISH (34/44) had an average of one to five ERBB2 copies scattered randomly in the nuclei and completely lacked cells with high copy levels. FISH results on primary tumors were concordant with slot blot results on amplification and with immunohistochemical detection of overexpression. Quantitative analysis of ERBB2 amplification by FISH may improve prognostic assessments based on the pattern of amplification and detection of heavily amplified tumor cell subpopulations.

0 comments Cited 89 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Identification of cryptic sites of DNA sequence amplification in human breast cancer by chromosome microdissection.

W. Dalton, Ronald J. Trent, Jeremy P. Meltzer … (1994)

We have performed microdissection of 16 putative homogeneously staining regions (hsrs) from nine different breast cancer cell lines in order to determine their chromosomal origin and composition. As expected, the most commonly amplified chromosomal band-region was 17q12 (containing ERBB2). However, regions not containing known oncogenes were also identified, including 13q31 (5/9 cases) and 20q12-13.2 (4/9 cases). The chromosomal composition of the integrated amplified DNA within each hsr was determined and in 13/16 cases (81%), hsrs were shown to be composed of two or more chromosomal regions. These studies shed light on the mechanism of formation of hsrs, and identify chromosomal regions likely to harbour genes amplified in breast cancer.