As proof-of-principle that our approach was valid, we confirmed the regulation of two genes established as important for GC-sensitivity: 1) the pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 family member (BCL2-like 11, BCL2L11/Bim), a GC-induced gene; and 2) ornithine decarboxylase (ODC1), a MYC-dependent, GC-repressed gene [22-24] in two cell lines evaluated by microarray (CEM-C7–14 and SUP-B15, see Additional file 2) and the GC-sensitive multiple myeloma cell line OPM-2, which was not evaluated for global gene changes in this array study. The gene discussed is MYC; the disease is plasma cell myeloma.