Title:	Expression profiles of tumor-associated genes in viable tumor cells isolated from primary tumors, ascites and blood of patients with adenocarcinomas of the ovary.
Authors:	Wei Zeng1, Huan Dong1,2, Qiang Zhao1, Donghai Chen1, Yunyun Yeh2, Kwan-nan Yeh2, Michael Pearl3, John Chen4, Michael Frohman5, Marc G. Golightly6 & Wen-Tien Chen1,2 (1) Department of Medicine, (3) Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine; (4) Department of Preventive Medicine; (5) Department of Pharmacology; (6) Department of Pathology, State University of New York, Stony Brook NY 11794; (2) Vitatex Inc., 25 Health Sciences Drive, Stony Brook, NY 11790.
Presented At:	International Conference on "Tumor Progression & Therapeutic Resistance", at the Hilton City Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Date Presented:	November 8th & 9th, 2004
Abstract
Gene expression profiling on primary and metastatic solid tumors is a powerful tool in diagnosing tumor types and categorizing them with respect to projected prognosis and therapeutic responsiveness. Similar approaches to study the tumor cells emigrating in ascites and blood have been less successful, mainly because of the low abundance of metastatic tumor cells in these body fluids. Here we used a cell adhesion matrix (CAM) assay for cell enrichment to perform Affymetrix DNA microarray analysis on rare and viable tumor cells derived from ascites and blood of patients with adenocarcinomas of the ovary. Using background leukocytes and cultured cell lines of fibroblastic and carcinoma origin as references, microarray analysis revealed clusters of genes whose expression profiles were representative of tumor cells present in primary sites, ascites and blood of ovarian adenocarcinomas. The profiles of tumor cells in ascites and blood, as compared to primary tumors, in the same diseases were essentially alike that included commonly used tumor associated markers (i.e., MMP7, mucin 1, GA733-1, lipocalin 2 and cytokeratin 18), reflecting the fact that these tumor cells had already metastasized, acquired the metastatic phenotype, and exhibited similar tissue origin. We validated the microarray result by real-time RT-PCR and immunocytochemistry.