National Cancer Institute National Cancer Institute
U.S. National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute
NCI Home Cancer Topics Clinical Trials Cancer Statistics Research & Funding News About NCI

Understanding Cancer Series: Cancer Genome Project
< Back to Main
    Posted: 01/28/2005    Reviewed: 09/01/2006
Page Options
Print This Page  Print This Page
Print This Document  Print This Document
View Entire Document  View Entire Document
E-Mail This Document  E-Mail This Document
View/Print PDF  View/Print PDF
View/Print PowerPoint  View/Print PowerPoint
Quick Links
Director's Corner

Dictionary of Cancer Terms

NCI Drug Dictionary

Funding Opportunities

NCI Publications

Advisory Boards and Groups

Science Serving People

Español
Quit Smoking Today
NCI Highlights
Report to Nation Finds Declines in Cancer Incidence, Death Rates

High Dose Chemotherapy Prolongs Survival for Leukemia

Prostate Cancer Study Shows No Benefit for Selenium, Vitamin E

The Nation's Investment in Cancer Research FY 2009

Past Highlights
Slide 10 : Expression Profiles previousnext

In any type of tissue, only a limited set of the genes are switched on at any given time. Also, from one tissue type to another, the limited set of genes involved will vary. Thus, each tissue can be identified by its unique pattern of gene expression. This pattern is often called an "expression profile" or a "molecular signature".

Here is an example of a normal breast cell and a normal prostate cell. Although both of these cells have many mRNAs and proteins in common (grey), they also have unique differences.

Cancer Genome Project - Expression Profiles

< Previous  |  Index  |  Next Slide >


A Service of the National Cancer Institute
Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health USA.gov