Gene expression signatures and pathway analysis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

We identified a number of deregulated genes through transcriptome analysis on esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and adjacent normal tissues. Our pathway enrichment analysis suggested that deregulated genes were strongly enriched in multiple functionally linked pathways known to be important in tumor cell proliferation (e.g., the p53 pathway and the cell-cycle pathway) and migration (e.g., the Notch pathway, the Wnt/β-catenin pathway). To identify the functional pathways playing important roles in the tumorigenesis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, pooled 10 ESCC tissues and pooled 10 adjacent normal tissues were analyzed using gene expression microarrays.