Oral cancer in vivo gene expression profiling assisted by laser capture microdissection and microarray analysis

Large scale gene expression profiling was carried out on laser capture micr odissected (LCM) tumor and normal oral epithelial cells and analysed on hig h-density oligonucleotide microarrays. About 600 genes were found to be ora l cancer associated. These oral cancer associated genes include oncogenes, tumor suppressors, transcription factors, xenobiotic enzymes, metastatic pr oteins, differentiation markers, and genes that have not been implicated in oral cancer. The database created provides a verifiable global profile of gene expression during oral carcinogenesis, revealing the potential role of known genes as well as genes that have not been previously implicated in o ral cancer.