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Updated: Jun 5, 2026
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Quantitative Mass Spectrometric Profiling of Cancer-cell Proteomes Derived From Liquid and Solid Tumors
Published on: February 27, 2015
Statistical analysis of the cancer cell's molecular entropy using high-throughput data
Wessel N van Wieringen1, Aad W van der Vaart
1Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. wvanwie@few.vu.nl
Bioinformatics (Oxford, England)
|December 22, 2010
Summary
Cancer progression increases genomic entropy, leading to higher transcriptomic entropy. This study provides methods to analyze this link, confirming a concordant relationship between DNA copy number and gene expression changes in evolving cancers.
Area of Science:
- Genomics
- Cancer Biology
- Systems Biology
Background:
- Cancer progression is characterized by accumulating DNA copy number aberrations, increasing genomic entropy or chromosomal disorganization.
- This genomic instability may propagate to other molecular levels, such as the transcriptome, influencing cancer evolution.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between genomic entropy and transcriptomic entropy in cancer.
- To develop statistical methods for analyzing the link between DNA copy number and gene expression.
- To understand how changes in genomic organization affect gene expression during cancer progression.
Main Methods:
- Developed a statistical framework to assess the relationship between genomic and transcriptomic entropy.
- Utilized high-throughput data, including DNA copy number and gene expression profiles.
- Applied the methodology to analyze multiple cancer datasets.
Main Results:
- A statistical argument demonstrates that increased DNA copy number entropy correlates with increased gene expression entropy.
- Analyses of multiple datasets reveal a close and concordant relationship between genomic and transcriptomic entropy.
- The findings suggest that transcriptomic entropy increases as genomic entropy rises during cancer evolution.
Conclusions:
- Genomic entropy and transcriptomic entropy are closely linked in cancer.
- The study provides a methodology to quantify this relationship using high-throughput data.
- Understanding this link enhances the comprehension of cancer evolution and molecular changes during progression.
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