Gene expression profiling of oral squamous cell carcinoma

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a solid neoplasm exhibiting aggressive tumor phenotypes with unpredictable biological behavior and usually a very unfavorable prognosis. The comprehension of the molecular basis of the variability within this cancer disease should lead to the development of satisfactory targeted therapies as well as to improvements in diagnosis specificity and sensitivity. Due to the lack of definite molecular concepts in OSCC, this study aimed to detail molecular characteristics possibly reflecting differences in tumor progression mechanisms through genome-wide gene expression profiles. Keywords: disease-state analysis Nine tumor samples differing in their TNM classification and their respective surgical margins were used in this study. They were obtained from individual patients during tongue and floor of the mouth tumor resection surgery. Microarray experiments were carried out using the microarray platform CodeLink (GE Healthcare). This platform utilizes bioarrays consisting of 30-base, single pre-validated oligonucleotide probe per gene target. CodeLink Whole-Genome bioarrays, containing 55,000 human transcripts, were used for all experiments. Hybridization procedures strictly followed protocols provided by the manufacturer (GE Healthcare). A total of 11 arrays were hybridized in this study. Arrays were scanned following the recommended scanning procedure and settings for use with CodeLink bioarrays (GE Healthcare) on GenePix 4000B Array Scanner/GenePix Pro 4.0 software (Axon Instruments).