Molecular and Epidemiologic Characterization of Salivary Gland Carcinomas

描述（由申请人提供）：唾液腺恶性肿瘤仅占美国所有头颈部恶性肿瘤的1-2%。它们的行为变化很大，治疗方法通常包括手术和放射治疗。由于对这些不寻常肿瘤的分子机制知之甚少，化疗和其他靶向治疗尚未被证明是有效的。作为该合作提案的一部分，我们的目标是利用新的微阵列技术评估启动子甲基化作为肿瘤抑制基因沉默手段的作用。我们打算使用Illumina Human Methylation27阵列，该阵列能够对超过14,000个基因的甲基化状态进行采样。然后，我们可以验证已确定的靶点，并继续对其在这些恶性肿瘤中的生物学相关性进行进一步的机制研究。进行这项综合分析将使我们能够确定表观遗传沉默对唾液腺癌癌变的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Salivary gland malignancies represent only 1-2% of all head and neck malignancies in the United States. Their behavior can be quite variable, and treatment usually involves surgery and radiation therapy. Because not much is known about the molecular mechanisms of these unusual tumors, chemotherapy and other targeted therapies have not been shown to be effective. As part of this collaborative proposal, our aim is to evaluate the role of promoter methylation as a means of tumor suppressor gene silencing using new microarray technology. We intend to use the Illumina Human Methylation27 array which is able to sample the methylation status of over 14,000 genes. We can then validate the identified targets and go on to perform further mechanistic studies of their biologic relevance in these malignancies. Performing this comprehensive analysis will allow us to determine the effect of epigenetic silencing on the carcinogenesis of salivary gland cancers.