MicroRNA classifiers for predicting prognosis of squamous cell lung cancer.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which is comprised mainly of adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), is the cause of 80% of all lung cancer deaths in the United States. NSCLC is also associated with a high rate of relapse after clinical treatment and, therefore, requires robust prognostic markers to better manage therapy options. The aim of this study was to identify microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles in SCC of the lung that would better predict prognosis.

Molecular profiling of carcinoma of unknown primary and correlation with clinical evaluation.

Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility of a 10-gene reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assay to identify the tissue of origin in patients with carcinoma of unknown primary (CUP) site.

Patients And Methods: Diagnostic biopsy formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) specimens from 120 patients with CUP were collected retrospectively from Sarah Cannon Research Institute, Nashville, TN, and prospectively from The University of Texas M. D.

A quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction assay to identify metastatic carcinoma tissue of origin.

Identifying the primary site in patients with metastatic carcinoma of unknown primary origin can enable more specific therapeutic regimens and may prolong survival. Twenty-three putative tissue-specific markers for lung, colon, pancreatic, breast, prostate, and ovarian carcinomas were nominated by querying a gene expression profile database and by performing a literature search. Ten of these marker candidates were then selected based on validation by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on 205 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded metastatic carcinoma specimens originating from these six and from other cancer types.

The G0/G1 switch gene 2 is a novel PPAR target gene.

PPARs (peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptors) alpha, beta/delta and gamma are a group of transcription factors that are involved in numerous processes, including lipid metabolism and adipogenesis. By comparing liver mRNAs of wild-type and PPARalpha-null mice using microarrays, a novel putative target gene of PPARalpha, G0S2 (G0/G1 switch gene 2), was identified. Hepatic expression of G0S2 was up-regulated by fasting and by the PPARalpha agonist Wy14643 in a PPARalpha-dependent manner.

Gene-expression profiles to predict distant metastasis of lymph-node-negative primary breast cancer.

Background: Genome-wide measures of gene expression can identify patterns of gene activity that subclassify tumours and might provide a better means than is currently available for individual risk assessment in patients with lymph-node-negative breast cancer.

Methods: We analysed, with Affymetrix Human U133a GeneChips, the expression of 22000 transcripts from total RNA of frozen tumour samples from 286 lymph-node-negative patients who had not received adjuvant systemic treatment.

Findings: In a training set of 115 tumours, we identified a 76-gene signature consisting of 60 genes for patients positive for oestrogen receptors (ER) and 16 genes for ER-negative patients.

Gene expression profiles and molecular markers to predict recurrence of Dukes' B colon cancer.

Purpose: The 5-year survival rate of patients with Dukes' B colon cancer is approximately 75%. Identification of the patients at high risk of recurrence in this group would allow better staging and more informed use of adjuvant chemotherapy. In this study, we used DNA chip technology to systematically identify new prognostic markers for tumor relapse in Dukes' B patients.