Identification of Tumor Markers in Models of Human Colorectal Cancer Using a 19,200-Element Complementary DNA Microarray

ABSTRACT Metastasis represents a crucial transition in disease development andprogression and has a profound impact on survival for a wide variety ofcancers. Cell line models of metastasis have played an important role indeveloping our understanding of the metastatic process. We used a 19,200-element human cDNA microarray to profile transcription in three pairedcell-line models of colorectal tumor metastasis. By correlating expressionpatterns across these cell lines, we have identified 176 genes that appear tobe differentially expressed (greater than 2-fold) in all highly metastaticcell lines relative to their reference. An analysis of these genes reiteratesmuch of our understanding of the metastatic process and suggests addi-tional genes, many of previously uncharacterized function, that may becausatively involved in, or at least prognostic of, metastasis. Northernanalysis of a limited number of these genes validates the observed patternof expression and suggests that further investigation and functional char-acterization of the identified genes is warranted.