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DNA microarrays in prostate cancer.
1Department of Surgery, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Room S4-746, 55 Lake Avenue North, Worcester, MA 01655, USA. Shuk-Mei.Ho@umassmed.edu
Current Urology Reports
|June 27, 2002
Summary
DNA microarray technology offers high-throughput analysis for prostate cancer research, aiding in predisposition definition, gene expression profiling, and biomarker discovery. Overcoming current hurdles will significantly impact cancer diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.
Area of Science:
- Molecular Biology
- Genomics
- Oncology
Background:
- DNA microarray technology enables high-throughput examination of molecular changes in biological processes.
- Prostate cancer research can benefit from this technology for various applications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the potential applications of DNA microarray technology in prostate cancer research.
- To identify challenges and future directions for its use in this field.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature and potential utilities of DNA microarray technology.
- Discussion of complementary technologies and data-mining tools.
Main Results:
- Plausible utilities include defining prostate cancer predisposition, profiling gene expression, identifying diagnostic/prognostic markers, and discovering new patient classifications.
- Current limitations include high cost, small sample sizes, and inadequate bioinformatics.
- Advancements in complementary technologies and bioinformatics will facilitate wider adoption.
Conclusions:
- DNA microarray technology holds significant promise for advancing prostate cancer diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.
- Underutilized data-mining tools like multivariate statistical analyses, neural networking, and machine learning should be more widely adopted.