Development of Compendium for Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Abstract

Esophageal cancer (EC) ranks as the 8th most aggressive malignancy, and its treatment remains challenging due to the lack of biomarkers facilitating early detection. EC manifests in two major histological forms - adenocarcinoma (EAD) and squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) - both exhibiting variations in incidence across geographically distinct populations. High-throughput technologies are transforming the understanding of diseases, including cancer. A significant challenge for the scientific community is dealing with scattered data in the literature. To address this, a simple pipeline is proposed for the analysis of publicly available microarray datasets and the collection of differentially regulated molecules between cancer and normal conditions. The pipeline can serve as a standard approach for differential gene expression analysis, identifying genes differentially expressed between cancer and normal tissues or among different cancer subtypes. The pipeline involves several steps, including Data preprocessing (involving quality control and normalization of raw gene expression data to remove technical variations between samples), Differential expression analysis (identifying genes differentially expressed between two or more groups of samples using statistical tests such as t-tests, ANOVA, or linear models), Functional analysis (using bioinformatics tools to identify enriched biological pathways and functions in differentially expressed genes), and Validation (involving validation using independent datasets or experimental methods such as qPCR or immunohistochemistry). Using this pipeline, a collection of differentially expressed molecules (DEMs) can be generated for any type of cancer, including esophageal cancer. This compendium can be utilized to identify potential biomarkers and drug targets for cancer and enhance understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the disease. Additionally, population-specific screening of esophageal cancer using this pipeline will help identify specific drug targets for distinct populations, leading to personalized treatments for the disease.