An Invasive Gene Expression Signature in Pancreas Cancer.

Gene expression profiling has demonstrated clinical utility as a predictive tool in clinical oncology. We have identified genes associated with invasion of pancreatic cancer, and with potential for identifying early recurrence. We used Affymetrix Human U133 Plus 2.0 microarrays to identifiy specific predictive profiles in pancreatic cancer, and the evolution of gene expression. We identified distinct classes of up-regulated genes during this process. Primary and metastatic pancreatic cancer cell lines (BxPC-3 and AsPC-1), were stimulated with with phorbol-12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), a known inducer of invasion. Affymetrix gene expression microarray analysis was performed, comparing PMA stimulated BxPC-3 and AsPC-1 gene expression to unstimulated controls, and also PMA stimulated BxPC-3 verses stimulated AsPC-1 cell lines. Differential gene expression was identified using ArrayAssist bioinformatics software. Gene expression changes were confirmed using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) (Assays-on-demand, Taqman, ABI systems). Pathway Assist and GOstat were used to identify pathway and gene ontology changes.