MICROCHIPS AND CLINICAL PRACTICE.

Microarrays have revolutionized molecular biology and medicine, with thollsands of hybridizations run and aliknown messengers of an organism studied togethel; instead of one gene and one messenger at a time. Major applicationsof microarray technology so far proposed refer to: a) genotyping, i.e. the definition of a specific genotype bydirect detection of known mutations/polymorphisms; b) gene expression and discovery, i.e. in order to simply answer the following question «which genes are expressed and to what extent ?» Specific applications include: a) predicting gene function, on the basis of specific expression patterns; b) linking celi pathways; c) «fingerprinting» of cellular or disease phenotype; d) drug discovery and drug target validation.At the present review we will give attempt to update the reader on the possible and practical use of microarraytechnology in clinical practice.