Gene expression profiles at different stages of human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

AIM: To characterize the gene expression profiles in different stages of carcinogenesis of esophageal epithelium. METHODS: A microarray containing 588 cancer related genes was employed to study the gene expression profile at different stages of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma including basal cell hyperplasia, high-grade dysplasia, carcinoma in situ, early and late cancer. Principle component analysis was performed to search the genes which were important in carcinogenesis. RESULTS: More than 100 genes were up or down regulated in esophageal epithelial cells during the stages of basal cell hyperplasia, high-grade dysplasia, carcinoma in situ, early and late cancer. Principle component analysis identified a set of genes which may play important roles in the tumor development. Comparison of expression profiles between these stages showed that some genes, such as P160ROCK, JNK2, were activated and may play an important role in early stages of carcinogenesis. CONCLUSION: These findings provided an esophageal cancer-specific and stage-specific expression profiles, showing that complex alterations of gene expression underlie the development of malignant phenotype of esophageal cancer cells.