Gene expression profile of small endometrial cancer by using gene expression array and laser capture microdissection

基因表达阵列方法使我们能够实现数千个基因的表达分析。然而，临床切除的大块癌组织不仅含有癌细胞，还含有基质细胞，这可能会影响基因表达谱，阻碍对癌细胞本身的准确分析。因此，基因表达阵列的临床应用需要一种解剖特定细胞的方法，如激光捕获显微解剖。目前还没有研究对两种基因表达谱进行比较；一种是通过激光捕获显微解剖从癌细胞中提取的RNA获得的，另一种是从大块癌症组织中提取的RNA获得的。在这里，我们首先证明了它们之间表达模式的差异，没有任何扩增程序。此外，肿瘤和非肿瘤组织之间的差异表达分析在两种方法之间产生了完全不同的模式。我们认为显微解剖对临床标本的基因表达分析至关重要。然后我们分析了小子宫内膜癌肿瘤细胞与正常子宫内膜细胞基因表达模式的差异。与正常子宫内膜细胞相比，肿瘤细胞中69个基因表达上调，99个基因表达下调。

The gene expression array method enables us to achieve an expression pro filing with thousands of genes. Clinically resected bulk cancer tissues, however, contain not only cancer cells but also stromal cells, which may affect gene expression profiling and hamper accurate analysis of the cancer cells per se. Therefore, a procedure for dissecting specific cells, such as laser capture microdissection, is needed for the clinical application of a gene expression array. There has been no study actually comparing two gene expression profiles; that obtained using RNA extracted from cancer cells by laser capture microdissection and that obtained using RNA extracted from bulk cancer tissues. Here, we first demonstrated the difference in expression patterns between them, without any amplification procedures. In addition, differential expression analysis between tumor and non-tumor tissue yielded quite different patterns between the two methods. We concluded that microdissection is essential for gene expression pro filing of clinical specimens.Then we analyzed the difference in the pattern of gene expression between the tumor and normal endometrial cells in small endometrial cancer. Sixty-nine genes were up-regulated and ninty-nine genes were down-regulated in the tumor cells when compared with the normal endometrial cells.