Expression analysis of human endometrial adenocarcinoma in an inbred rat model

Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most abundant female gynaecologic malignancy, ranking fourth in incidence among invasive tumors in women. Hormone-related (estrogen-dependent) EC is the prevalent subtype and accounts for approximately 75% of these cancers. Females of the BDII inbred rat strain are extremely prone to endometrial adenocarcinoma, (EAC) and approximately 90% of virgin females spontaneously develop EAC during their life span. Thus, these rats serve as a useful model for the genetic analysis of this malignancy. In the present work, gene expression profiling, by means of cDNA microarrays, was performed on cDNA from endometrial tumor cell lines and from cell lines derived from nonmalignant lesions/normal tissues of the endometrium without specific findings (WSF). We identified numerous genes differentially expressed between endometrial cell lines and WSFs employing clustering analysis and statistical inference analysis. Many of the genes identified are located within or close to the chromosomal regions earlier identified to be associated with EAC susceptibility and development. Several of the genes identified are involved in pathways commonly altered in carcinogenesis, such as the TGF-pathway.