| The emergence of molecular biology into the post-genomic era has been precipitated by several high-throughput technologies, one of which is microarray technology. Microarrays enable the simultaneous measurement of gene expression levels on a genomic scale. This revolutionary technique necessitates a reinvention of traditional experimental approaches and requires the assistance of quantitative and predictive disciplines such as mathematics and computer science.; Presented here is 2HAPI, a web-based, publicly available analytical tool that facilitates exploration and mining of microarray data by providing an integrated environment in which the researcher can access many analytical tools and supporting biological information simultaneously. In addition, 2HAPI was employed to analyze newly generated microarray data describing the transformation of human T-cells induced by HTLV-I, a retrovirus that has been established as the cause of a human malignancy, adult T-cell leukemia, and a chronic neurodegenerative disease, HTLV-I-associated myelopathy.; The use of 2HAPI on this data revealed several genes that appear to be involved in HTLV-I-induced T-cell transformation and are worthy of further laboratory experimentation. Of particular interest are c- myc, pim-1, MLH1, cyclin D2, Bcl-2, and DAXX. Furthermore, several genes that may be involved in clinical complications of HTLV-I-associated disease were found including Indian hedgehog homolog and genes encoding blood clotting factors.; The extraction of interesting biological results from the HTLV-I array data confirms that 2HAPI is a useful contribution to the microarray community. |
