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Ubiquitous cancer genes: Multipurpose molecules for protein micro‐arrays
Author(s) -
Altenberg Brigitte,
Gemuend Christine,
Greulich Karl Otto
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
proteomics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.26
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1615-9861
pISSN - 1615-9853
DOI - 10.1002/pmic.200500154
Subject(s) - gene , biology , cancer , dna microarray , genome , computational biology , proteomics , human genome , genetics , gene expression , cancer research
Multipurpose genes in the human genome which are over‐expressed in a large variety of different cancers have been identified. Forty‐two of the 19,016 human genes annotated to date (0.2%) are ubiquitously over‐expressed in half or more of the 36 investigated human cancers. Of these genes, 15 are involved in protein biosynthesis and folding, six of them in glycolysis. A group of 13 solid tumours over‐express almost all (39–42 of 42) ubiquitous cancer genes, suggesting a common mechanism underlying these cancers. Others, such as endocrine cancers, have only a few over‐expressed ubiquitous cancer genes. The proteins for which these genes code or the corresponding antibodies are candidates for small protein microarrays aiming at maximum information with only a limited number of proteins. Since the over‐expression pattern varies from cancer to cancer, distinction between different cancer classes is possible using one single set of protein or antibody molecules.