DNA微阵列技术及其在肿瘤生物学中的应用

DNA Microarray Technology and its Applications in Cancer Biology

人类基因组测序工作的完成使人们可以方便地调用任何基因序列,但仅有基因序列并不能解释众多的生物学问题,这要求发展一种高通量的技术用于研究基因的生物学功能以及基因的相互作用。DNA微阵列技术以其高通量的特点,已经在肿瘤生物学的研究中逐渐被采用。由于癌症是源于基因表达谱改变的基因疾病,通过DNA微阵列技术研究癌症细胞和对应的正常细胞的基因表达差异,将会使人们更好地了解肿瘤的形成和发展过程。

The vast amount of information available through the human genome project. However, the mere sequence information of the whole genome does not answer all our questions. What is required at this stage is a complete understanding of the function of genes and other parts of the genome so as to uncover how sets of genes and their products work together in normal and diseased conditions. DNA microarrays are some of the most powerful and versatile tools available, and there are several applications of microarray technology in cancer biology. Since cancer is a genetic disease arising from the progressive accumulation of many genetic alternations, identification of differences in the expression profile of tumor cells in comparison to their normal counterpart would provide a better platform for understanding the process of tumor formation and development.