DNA microarrays in clinical practice: past, present, and future

• Published in: Clinical and experimental medicine Vol. 3; no. 1; pp. 1 - 3
• Main Authors: SEVENET, N, CUSSENOT, O
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Milano Springer 01.05.2003; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; Gene Expression; Genomics; Humans; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Medical sciences; Miscellaneous. Technology; Molecular biology; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; Pathology. Cytology. Biochemistry. Spectrometry. Miscellaneous investigative techniques; Prognosis; Exploration; Prognosis; Gene expression; Prediction; DNA chip
• ISSN: 1591-8890; 1591-9528
• DOI: 10.1007/s102380300008

Gene expression is a central concept in molecular biology and forms part of our knowledge of the role of genes in human diseases. Genome-wide monitoring of gene expression using DNA microarrays (allowing the simultaneous assessment of the transcription of tens of thousands of genes, and of their relative expression between normal cells and pathological cells) represents one of the latest breakthroughs in experimental molecular biology and provides unprecedented opportunity to explore the biological processes underlying human diseases by providing a comprehensive survey of a cell's transcriptional landscape. This revolutionary technology ultimately leads to the discovery of new biomarkers for disease diagnosis and prognosis prediction, and of new therapeutic tools. This paper provides an overview of microarray technology and describes some of its recent applications in medicine.