The purpose of our study is to make use of a novel technology that the Cancer Genetics Branch of the NHGRI has been a leader in developing. This technology for genome-wide expression analysis, DNA microarray hybridization, is the focus of our protocol. We will access tissue banks collected by our collaborators that contain excess tissues obtained during routine clinical care. Specimens will be processed for large-scale gene expression analysis and DNA copy number determination using DNA microarrays. The development and analysis of this gene expression and gene copy number database are the primary purpose of this study. Currently available and new bioinformatics tools will be applied to the data for the characterization of disease subsets (e.g., early vs. advanced stage cancer) as well as to mine the data for specific genes which are linked to given disease states.
