A miniSAGE (minimal serial analysis of gene expression) technique was established for determining the gene expression pattern from minimal amount of starting material(1 μg RNA). The gene profiles of two fibroblast cell lines were analyzed. One was from a coronary artery disease (CAD) patient, another one was from a normal person. Two high quality SAGE libraries were synthesized. Comparing the SAGE tags in the two libraries, abounding data about the differential expression genes was provided for the research on the mechanism of CAD. The new gene related with CAD could be isolated based on these data. The miniSAGE technique is a powerful gene expression analysis tool for study on complex disease, and can be applied on only 1 μg RNA.