An international database and integrated analysis tools for the study of cancer gene expression

Abstract

Researchers working collaboratively in Brazil and the United States have assembled an International Database of Cancer Gene Expression. Several strategies have been employed to generate gene expression data including expressed sequence tags (ESTs), serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE), and open reading-frame expressed sequence tags (ORESTES). The database contains six million gene tags that reflect the gene expression profiles in a wide variety of cancerous tissues and their normal counterparts. All sequences are deposited in the public databases, GenBank and SAGEmap. A suite of informatics tools was designed to facilitate in silico analysis of the gene expression datasets and are available through the NCI Cancer Genome Anatomy Project web site (http://cgap.nci.nih.gov).