Studies Of Differential Gene Expression In Pheochrmocytoma: Fluorescence Differential Display PCR Analyses

Objective:Pheochromocytoma is an important cause of secondary hypertension, whose pathogenesis is yet to be clarified. It is still difficult to identify malignant cases at early stage. The technique of mRNA Differential Display is a common and effective approach to identify genes that are differentially expressed under different conditions. It is rapid and sensitive, and can screen the expression of a large number of genes in a high-throughput way. Therefore, we applied Fluoro-DDPCR to the investigation of gene expression in normal adrenal medulla, benign and malignant pheochromocytomas, so as to provide, at the gene level, experimental basis for the study of pheochromocytoma pathogenesis, early differential diagnosis of benign and malignant cases, and their clinical management. Methods:1. The study included 5 normal adrenal medullae, from 5 healthy adults of accidental deaths, as one control group, and 5 benign and 1 malignant pheochromocytomas obtained during surgical resections, as two tumoral groups respectively.2. Total RNA from each normal and tumoral tissues was extracted.3. The mRNA expression patterns of the three groups were analyzed with fluoro-DDPCR.4. Bands of interest were reamplificated, cloned and sequenced.