Functional Genomic Applications in Understanding Molecular Basis of the Mesothelioma Progression: Use of Transcriptomics and Proteomics Technologies

Malignant mesothelioma is a fatal cancer of the pleural and peritoneal spaces whose incidence is mainly related to the asbestos exposure. To date the molecular basis that induce carcinogenesis are still unknown and there are different problems related to a precise diagnosis with non-invasive techniques that often requires a thoracoscopic or pleural biopsy. The application of the new post genomic technologies could represent a good challenge to identify specific gene and protein changes in malignant mesothelial cells. Functional genomic starts after the completion of the sequence of the human genome when it begins the so-called "post-genomic era". The aim of the functional genomic is to understand gene and protein functions and it is adverse to the structural genomic that analyzes the gene and protein sequences. Functional genomic is based on two main technologies that recently have contributed to shed light in understanding the molecular basis of cancer progression: the DNA microarrays and the protein microarrays.