Gene expression in skeletal muscle of cancer patients before and after potentially curative surgery. Homo sapiens

The mechanisms underlying muscle wasting in cancer patients remain poorly understood, and consequently there remains an unmet clinical need for new biomarkers and treatment strategies. Overall design: Microarrays were used to examine the transcriptome in single biopsies from healthy controls (n=6) and in paired biopsies [pre-resection baseline (weight-loss 7%) and 8 month post-resection follow-up (disease-free /weight-stable for previous 2 months)] from quadriceps muscle of patients with upper gastrointestinal cancer (UGIC) (n=12).

癌症患者肌肉萎缩的潜在分子机制目前仍未得到充分阐明，因此临床上对于新型生物标志物与治疗策略仍存在未被满足的需求。
总体实验设计：采用微阵列（Microarrays）技术，检测健康对照组（n=6）的单次肌肉活检样本的转录组（transcriptome）；同时对12名上消化道癌症（upper gastrointestinal cancer, UGIC）患者的股四头肌配对活检样本进行转录组检测，此类配对样本分别为术前切除基线状态（体重下降7%），以及术后8个月随访时的样本（该随访样本对应的此前2个月无疾病复发且体重维持稳定）。