A model system for assessing and comparing the ability of exon microarray and tag sequencing to detect genes specific for malignant B-cells

Maria Bro Kloster, Anders Ellern Bilgrau, Maria Rodrigo-Domingo, Kim Steve Bergkvist, Alexander Schmitz, Mads Sønderkær, Julie Støve Bødker, Steffen Falgreen, Mette Nyegaard, Hans Erik Johnsen, Kåre Lehmann Nielsen, Karen Dybkaer, Martin Bøgsted

Malignant cells in tumours of B-cell origin account for 0.1% to 98% of the total cell content, depending on disease entity. Recently, gene expression profiles (GEPs) of B-cell lymphomas based on microarray technologies have contributed significantly to improved sub-classification and diagnostics. However, the varying degrees of malignant B-cell frequencies in analysed samples influence the interpretation of the GEPs. Based on emerging next-generation sequencing technologies (NGS) like tag sequencing (tag-seq) for GEP, it is expected that the detection of mRNA transcripts from malignant B-cells can be supplemented. This study provides a quantitative assessment and comparison of the ability of microarrays and tag-seq to detect mRNA transcripts from malignant B-cells. A model system was established by eight serial dilutions of the malignant B-cell lymphoma cell line, OCI-Ly8, into the embryonic kidney cell line, HEK293, prior to parallel analysis by exon microarrays and tag-seq.