Differential gene expression profiling of matched primary renal cell carcinoma and metastases reveals upregulation of extracellular matrix genes

It is unknown if gene expression profiles from primary RCC tumors differ from patient-matched metastatic tumors. Thus, we sought to identify differentially expressed genes between patient-matched primary and metastatic RCC tumors in order to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the development of RCC metastases. We compared gene expression profiles between patient-matched primary and metastatic RCC tumors. We employed Affymetrix U133 Plus2 microarrays to assess gene expression on 15 pairs of primary RCC (14 clear cell RCC, 1 papillary) tumors and patient-matched pulmonary metastases, across 54,675 probesets.