Genes associated with prostate cancer are differentially expressed in African American and European American men.
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2013 Mar 20. [Epub ahead of print]
Powell IJ, Dyson G, Land S, et al.
This study used microarray-based methods to measure expression levels for 517 genes that were previously associated with prostate cancer in archived formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens, in order to test the hypothesis that gene expression patterns could distinguish African American prostate cancer patients from European Americans with the disease. The analysis showed that 95 genes were over-expressed specifically in African American patient samples relative to samples from European American men, and that 132 were over-expressed in samples from European American males relative to African American men. The authors claim their results "support the notion that therapeutic benefits will be realized when targeted treatments are designed to acknowledge and address a greater spectrum of prostate cancer subtypes and molecular distinctions."
Development of a new wheat microarray from a durum wheat totipotent cDNA library used for a powdery mildew resistance study.
Cell Mol Biol Lett. 2013 Mar 20. [Epub ahead of print]
Cifarelli R, D'Onofrio O, Grillo R, et al.
A new wheat microarray was developed and used to screen for genes that may contribute to differences in the disease resistance of two near-isogenic lines, the durum wheat cultivar Latino and the line 5BIL-42, which are respectively susceptible and resistant to powdery mildew. Fluorescently labeled cDNA was prepared from the RNA of seedlings of the two near-isogenic wheat lines after infection with a single powdery mildew isolate under controlled conditions in the greenhouse, and hybridization to the microarray identified six genes that were differently expressed in the two lines.
Systematic molecular and cytogenetic screening of 100 patients with marfanoid syndromes and intellectual disability.
Clin Genet. 2013 Mar 18. doi: 10.1111/cge.12094. [Epub ahead of print]
Callier P, Aral B, Hanna N, et al.
A hundred patients with marfanoid habitus and intellectual disability were screened using a custom 244,000-probe comparative genomic hybridization array manufactured by Agilent Technologies. Eighty patients could be classified as isolated MH and ID, and 20 patients could be classified as ID with other extra-skeletal features of the Marfan syndrome spectrum. Although the authors said it was impossible to make a diagnosis in 80 percent of patients screened, they said that their results will improve genetic counseling in families.