Insights Arising from Gene Expression Profiling in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Gene expression profiling has been used extensively in multiple fields of research to compare disease and control samples, to investigate mechanisms of disease, to identify subtypes within a heterogeneous clinical phenotype and to establish responses to a specific treatment. In addition, it can also be used to determine the function of a gene, to monitor changes over time, or for discovering cell specific expression or responses. This chapter will initially explain the principles of gene expression profiling, before discussing the sources of samples, along with their advantages and limitations, and will then summarise the research to date regarding the application of gene expression profiling to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).