Application and Perspective of cDNA Microarray in Gastroenterology

Hwang, Il Ran; Cho, Sung Won; Hahm, Ki Baik

Abstract

The human genome project has afforded huge amounts of DNA sequence data. A future challenge will be to determine how genes or their products actually interact with each other and response to many chemical or biological stimuli. They would respond by specifically changing in gene expression patterns. Altered expression patterns of genes are expected to accompany many or all human diseases. Such functional genomics will lead to understanding complex disease pathways and biological processes. cDNA microarray is emerging as a powerful tool to measure simultaneously the level of steady-state mRNA for every gene in human genome. It is applied to the study of functional genomics. In contrast to the traditional approach by studying a single gene, they permit massive parallel data of gene expression patterns in a single reaction based on hybridization. Now bioinformatics is capable of managing the high-throughput data with the great advance in computer science. The success of microarray depends on how we analyze and visualize data. This article reviews the methodology involved in cDNA microarray and its clinical application. Microarray is becoming increasingly useful in understanding pathogenesis in digestive diseases and also in refining patients' management in terms of disease prognosis and diagnosis, individual disease susceptibility, drug discovery, and toxicology.