Study on the gene expression profile of poorly differentiated gastric carcinoma using cDNA microarray

Background and purpose:The molecular mechanism of the pathogenesis of poorly differentiated gastric carcinoma is unclear, because the key genes related to poorly differentiated gastric carcinoma have not been identified. The study was designed to establish the gene expression profile of poorly differentiated gastric carcinoma, isolate gastric carcinoma-related genes, and investigate the relationship between gastric carcinoma-related genes and gastric carcinoma. Methods:The changes of gene expression profile between poorly differentiated gastric carcinoma and adjacent normal tissue of gastric epithelia were analyzed by cDNA microarray which represented approximately 10 000 known genes that would be tested in the assay. Immunohistochemistry were employed to validate the relationship between gastric carcinoma-related genes and gastric carcinoma.Results:212 genes that were differentially expressed in cancer and non cancerous tissues were identified; 169 genes were highly expressed in cancer tissues by more than 2.0 fold, 43 genes were lower expressed in cancer tissues by more than 2.0 fold. EMS1 protein was located in cytoplasma. The positive rate of EMS1 protein expression was 20% (4/20) in normal gastric mucosa and 89.72% (131/146) in the gastric carcinoma, the difference was significant (P0.001).Conclusions:These results not only indicate that EMS1 protein expression is related to carcinogenesis of gastric carcinoma, but also the technology is very useful for screening gastric cancer related genes.