Background: The objective of this study was to test the feasibility of combined laser microdissection and microarray-based expression analysis in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and to detect the most strongly deregulated genes.
Methods: Laser microdissection of tumor areas and subsequent gene expression analysis (47,000 transcripts) was performed on snap-frozen primary tumor samples from 15 patients with clear cell RCC. Four normal kidney samples served as controls. Validation was performed for one gene with quantitative RT-PCR on additional samples.
Results: Isolation of intact RNA from microdissected tissue was successful; 179 transcripts were significantly deregulated by a factor of 5 or more. Upregulation of FABP7 was confirmed by quantitative RT-PCR.
Conclusion: In RCC the combination of laser microdissection and subsequent microarray analysis provides reliable data from precisely defined material. This is an optimal starting point for the development of novel therapeutic and diagnostic options.