Scientists at the Erasmus MC-University Medical Center and Applied Biosystems report finding that normal and cancerous cells contain different amounts of miRNAs. Additionally, a tumor's miRNA expression pattern provides vital information about its malignancy, according to the collaborators.
“These findings have provided us with a new level of information for understanding the biology of cancer,” notes Leendert Looijenga, Ph.D., group leader within the department of pathology at the Erasmus Medical Center. While the research was done in testicular samples, the data will also be applicable to breast, lung, colon, and other cancers, he adds.
The researchers used the Applied Biosystems 7900HT Real-Time PCR System to profile the expression patterns of 157 miRNA molecules in a series of testicular tumors and normal testicular tissue samples. The data was analyzed using Real-Time StatMiner, a data analysis software tool designed by Integromics™ in collaboration with Applied Biosystems.
The paper will be published in the November issue of The Journal of Pathology.