[Mining gene expression microarray data of nasopharyngeal carcinoma by literature profiling].

OBJECTIVE

To study abnormal signal pathway in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

METHOD: NPC gene expression microarray data was mined by analysis of literature profiles generated by extracting the frequencies of certain terms from the abstracts stored in the Medline literature database. The terms were then filtered on the basis of both repetitive occurrence and co-occurrence among multiple gene entries. Finally, clustering analysis was performed on the retained frequency values, shaping a coherent picture of the functional relationship among large and heterogeneous lists of genes.

RESULT: Sixteen function groups were found among 112 abnormally expressed genes, including 4 groups indicative of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection, 6 groups indicative of normal nasopharyngeal tissues that acquired essential capabilities to develop into tumor, 2 groups involved in energy metabolism, 1 group suggesting abnormal phosphorylation of proteins, 2 groups related to other diseases, and 1 group associated with muscle activities. The pathways of p53 and Rb, which were frequently abnormal during tumor progression, were not found in these groups.

CONCLUSION

Initiation and progression of NPC may be caused by special signal transduction pathways.