Background
Barrett's esophagus metaplasia is the key precursor lesion of esophageal adenocarcinoma. The
Conclusions
Our study provides high quality data, which could serve for identification of potential biomarkers of Barrett's esophagus at risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma progression.
Methods
Laser capture microdissection technique was applied to procure cells from defined regions. Genome-wide RNA profiling was performed on esophageal adenocarcinoma (n = 21), Barrett's esophagus (n = 20), esophageal squamous carcinoma (n = 9) and healthy esophageal biopsies (n = 18) using the Affymetrix Human Genome U133plus 2.0 array. Microarray
Results
Through unsupervised hierarchical clustering and principal component analysis, samples were separated into four distinct groups that match perfectly with histology. Many genes down-regulated in esophageal cancers belong to the epidermal differentiation complex or the related GO-group "cornified envelope" of terminally differentiated keratinocytes. Similarly, retinol metabolism was strongly down-regulated. Genes showing strong overexpression in esophageal carcinomas belong to the GO groups extracellular region /matrix such as MMP1, CTHRC1, and INHBA. According to an analysis of genes strongly up-regulated in both esophageal adenocarcinoma and Barrett's esophagus, REG4 might be of particular interest as an early marker for esophageal adenocarcinoma. Conclusions: Our study provides high quality data, which could serve for identification of potential biomarkers of Barrett's esophagus at risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma progression.