OBJECTIVETo screen differential expression genes and proteins at transcriptome and proteome levels between human gastric cancer tissue and corresponding normal mucosa.

METHODSFresh-frozen gastric cancers were collected from patients treated at Ruijin Hospital. A total of 22 pairs of gastric cancer tissues and the corresponding noncancerous mucosa were analyzed. Commercially available cDNA microarray with 14 592 genes/ESTs was used. Genes were considered to be up-or down-regulated when the intensity ratio Cy3/Cy5 was > or = 2 or < or = 0.5 in over 50% samples (P<0.05). Immobilized pH gradient(IPG)-based 2-DE was applied to separate the total proteins of gastric cancer tissue and paired normal tissue. After staining and analysis by software,the differential expression proteins were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) or MALDI-TOF-TOF-MS.

RESULTSAs compared with corresponding noncancerous tissue, there were totally 149 up-regulating genes/ESTs and 238 down-regulating genes/ESTs in gastric cancer, including 29 genes with 3-fold over-expression ratio and 21 genes with 5-fold under-expression. Fifteen protein spots were identified successfully, among whom there were ten over-expressed and five under-expressed proteins in gastric cancer tissue compared with normal tissue. Most of over-expressed genes and proteins were related to cell motility, cell proliferation, signal transduction, while those under-expressed genes and proteins were related to defense response, toxoid metabolism.

CONCLUSIONStudying gastric cancer at transcriptome and proteome levels can help demonstrate tumorigenesis and biological characteristics of gastric cancer comprehensively and provide powerful tools to find new biomarkers associated with gastric cancer and therapy targets.