Expression profiling based on histocultures

Abstract

Methods of obtaining faithful expression libraries from tissue samples comprise extraction of RNA from intact tissue cultured in three-dimensional sponge-gel based histocultures.

1 . A method to prepare an expression profile of a tissue which method comprises the step of extracting RNA from an intact sample of said tissue cultured in a three-dimensional collagen sponge-gel culture.  
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , which further includes subjecting said RNA to analysis to obtain expression data.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , which further includes converting the extracted RNA into cDNA.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , which further includes preparing labeled cRNA from said cDNA and analyzing said cRNA using microarray analysis.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said tissue is tumor tissue.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein said tumor is of the breast, lung, colon, liver, stomach, pancreas, prostate, head, neck, ovary, or brain.  
     
     
         7 . An RNA expression library prepared by the method of  claim 1 .  
     
     
         8 . A cDNA expression library prepared by the method of  claim 3 .  
     
     
         9 . A cRNA expression library prepared by the method of  claim 4 .  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 2 , which further includes preparing a prognosis based on said data.