A Practical Approach, Second Edition=Ronald D. Ho.pdf

FUNCTIONAL GENOMICS AND PROTEOMICS 641and the retina. 13 Given the ethical and practical complexities of obtaining relevant samples fromhuman embryos or fetuses, no studies on their gene expression have as yet been published. Evendevelopmental toxicology studies in laboratory animals are often difficult to perform and interpretgiven the complexity of experimental design, routes of exposure, and differences in metabolismbetween the different animal species and humans.Developmental and reproductive toxicity studies are designed to assess the potential of agentsto induce toxicity in both a qualitative and quantitative manner. Most studies encompass the useof several animal species under different exposure paradigms. When there are specific, cross-species,and dose-dependent developmental abnormalities, extrapolation to humans is considered relativelyreliable. On the other hand, when toxicity is species specific, extrapolation of adverse outcomes tohumans might be established by more mechanistic approaches. 119 Therefore, using global geneexpression or protein profiling data of developmental and reproductive toxicants and newly developedpharmaceuticals to establish potential hazards in humans is one such approach that is constantlygaining support from both the academic and industrial sectors. However, it is important thatthe limitations and advantages of each the technologies described be kept in mind so that whenplanning such experiments, the most appropriate technique is chosen. Similar to the advancementsrecently made in the functional genomics of cancer biology, increasing knowledge and understandingof the mechanisms of developmental and reproductive toxicity will enable us to predict thosecompounds that posses the greatest potential for harm. 120–122A. MicroarraysV. RELEVANT WEBSITES AND DATABASES• The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), Gene Expression Omnibus, themicroarray data repository– http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo• The National Institute of Aging (NIA) mouse cDNA project home page– http://lgsun.grc.nia.nih.gov/cDNA/cDNA.html• Microarray user group– http://tango01.cit.nih.gov/sig/home.taf?_function=main&SIGInfo_SIGID=58• Basic information and relevant links– http://www.gene-chips.com– A public source for microarray protocols and software http://www.microarrays.org/index.html• The microarrays Yahoo eGroup– http://groups.yahoo.com/group/microarrayB. SAGE• NCBI’s SAGEmap– http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/SAGE• The Cancer Genome Anatomy Project– http://cgap.nci.nih.gov/SAGE• SAGE home page– http://www.sagenet.org/C. Proteomics• NCBI’s Structure Group– http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Structure• Protein Data Bank– http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/© 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC