Meta-analyses of transcriptional information: impact of data integration in understanding human breast cancers

We have established a functional and comprehensive state-of-the-art expression array technology platform that supports large-scale investigations in human, mouse, rat, zebrafish, and Schizosaccharomyces pombe systems. Critical to its success is the establishment of a microarray database with high storage and computational capacity, development of standardized experimental protocols, novel analytical approaches, customized analytical tools, and design oligonucleotides for microarray expansion. The goal is that every expression array experiment performed can be cross-analyzed against another throughout the history of the institute and with data in the public domain. This data-dense platform has enabled a far-reaching and comprehensive genomics approach to the molecular and clinical characterization of human cancers. We have applied this approach to uncover underlying transcriptional control cassettes in human breast cancers, and to decipher potential regulatory pathways. Our results suggest that fundamental mechanisms can be inferred from these genomic observations that can be readily tested. Some of these examples will be discussed.