Kim Christina J, Reintgen Douglas S, Yeatman Timothy J
Department of Surgery, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute at the University of South Florida, Tampa, USA.
Cancer Control. 2002 Jan-Feb;9(1):49-53. doi: 10.1177/107327480200900107.
Genetic aberration is responsible for the development of neoplastic potential in a number of malignancies. These DNA alterations result in significant changes in gene expression that may now be measured and catalogued. The microarray technique screens and identifies expressed genes that may be responsible for tumorigenesis.
The authors review the application of the microarray technique in malignant melanoma.
Candidate melanoma suppressor genes have been identified in melanoma cell lines using this technique. Furthermore, molecular classification using gene expression profiling may improve the accuracy of the staging system for determining prognosis.
The microarray technique is in its initial development for clinical application in a variety of tumor models. Melanoma is an ideal system to study the genetic changes associated with the stepwise progression of malignancy. It may be possible to efficiently screen the entire human genome to identify the particular aberrations in gene expression responsible for tumorigenesis in melanoma.
基因畸变在多种恶性肿瘤的肿瘤发生潜能发展中起作用。这些DNA改变导致基因表达的显著变化，现在这些变化可以被测量和分类。微阵列技术可筛选并识别可能与肿瘤发生有关的表达基因。
作者回顾了微阵列技术在恶性黑色素瘤中的应用。
利用该技术已在黑色素瘤细胞系中鉴定出候选黑色素瘤抑制基因。此外，使用基因表达谱进行分子分类可能会提高用于确定预后的分期系统的准确性。
微阵列技术正处于在各种肿瘤模型中进行临床应用的初步开发阶段。黑色素瘤是研究与恶性肿瘤逐步进展相关的基因变化的理想系统。有可能有效地筛选整个人类基因组，以识别导致黑色素瘤肿瘤发生的基因表达中的特定畸变。
