November 17, 2004
Since their introduction in the mid 1990s, cDNA microarrays have allowed cancer researchers to record the expression patterns of hundreds or even thousands of genes at once in just about any cell type. Scientists hope these data will point them to a subset of genes that might be more directly involved in turning normal cells neoplastic, key clues in understanding the biology of tumor cells. In the November 1, 2004 issue of the International Journal of Cancer, NIDCR scientists and colleagues report the gene expression profiles of 25 well characterized squamous cell carcinoma cell lines. Their microarray data suggest that different cellular pathways might have been altered within two broad subgroups of cell lines to turn them neoplastic.