Diversity of gene expression in adenocarcinoma of the lung

The global gene expression profiles for 67 human lung tumors representing 5 6 patients were examined by using 24,000-element cDNA microarrays. Subdivis ion of the tumors based on gene expression patterns faithfully recapitulate d morphological classification of the tumors into squamous, large cell, sma ll cell, and adenocarcinoma. The gene expression patterns made possible the subclassification of adenocarcinoma into subgroups that correlated with th e degree of tumor differentiation as well as patient survival. Gene express ion analysis thus promises to extend and refine standard pathologic analysi s.