A team of scientists has developed a cross-species comparative genomics and oncology strategy for cancer driver gene discovery using microarray technologies from Roche Nimblegen.
The study, which was recently published in the Genome Research journal, was led by Dr Shaying Zhao at Georgia University.
The strategy is said to differ fundamentally from current approaches, which only focus on human cancers.
This study used Nimblegen CGH arrays to pinpoint genes likely to be responsible for colorectal cancer (CRC) by identifying genomic copy-number abnormalities (CNAs) that are common in both canine and human CRC research samples (Genome Research, 2010, 20:341).
The results of this study could have significant implications on research to develop future diagnostic assays and treatments for this disease.
While early screening and risk-factor modification is contributing to the downward trend of mortality rate for CRC, research is still needed to identify the genomic cause of this cancer.
In recent years, increasing evidence for the contribution of CNAs to cancer development and progression has been reported.
CNAs are most easily detected using microarray-based comparative genomic hybridisation (CGH), where entire genomes of healthy and cancer samples are compared in a single experiment.
As these changes can be numerous and complex in certain cancers, especially those from advanced-stage cancers, it is challenging to determine which CNAs are cancer causing and which are non-causative changes.
To test the hypothesis that CNAs common in both human and dog CRC are more likely to be the direct cause of CRC, Zhao's team used Nimblegen CGH microarrays to first characterise CNAs in human CRC and canine CRC samples.
She said: 'For this study, we selected the high-density 385K and 2.1 million CGH arrays from Roche Nimblegen as our platform of choice to identify CNAs in sporadic canine and human CRC genomes, as they provide a comprehensive detection of known and novel CNAs.
'The results have revealed for the first time a strong degree of genetic homology between sporadic canine and human CRC,' added Zhao.
The study provides molecular evidence supporting that sporadic canine cancers are excellent models for the corresponding human cancers and that comparison between dog and human cancers of similar types would be a suitable way to identify driver alterations.
