Transcription factors controlling responses to toxic chemicals

摘要

In this issue, Paul Jennings from Innsbruck, Martin Leonard from Dublin, and colleagues contribute a comprehensive review about transcriptional response in toxicological insult (Jennings et al. 2012; this issue). Currently, gene array analyses are frequently used to study responses of cell or tissues to chemicals (Park et al. 2011; Sun et al. 2011; Heise et al. 2012; Godoy et al. 2010; Bolt et al. 2010). Moreover, gene expression profiling has been successfully used to characterize tumor tissue (Schmidt et al. 2011, 2012; Cadenas et al. 2010). However, it has become clear that powerful biostatistical tools are required to better understand the complex gene expression patterns. One possibility is pre-clustering gene groups according to biological motifs (Schmidt et al. 2008; Kammers et al. 2011; Cadenas 2012).