Expression profiling of human gliomas by cDNA microarray

Human Genome Research

Investigators

Abstract

Although human gliomas do not represent the majority of malignancies, they remain a disease that is very difficult to treat. In collaboration with researchers at the Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, AR, we are performing cDNA microarray experiments on different subtypes of gliomas in order to identify gene expression profiles for diagnosis and prognosis, as well as to identify potential novel therapeutic targets. Two particular subtypes, oligodendoglioma and oligoastrocytoma, are very difficult to distinguish by normal pathological techniques, and misdiagnoses are not uncommon. This is a very big problem as there are treatments for oligodendroglioma, and misdiagnosis usually results in the wrong treatment regiment. Therefore, we are also trying to identify potential molecular markers to be used to specifically differentiate between these two tumor types.