Detection of Prostate Cancer Progression by Serum DNA Integrity; Annual rept. 1 Apr 2007-31 Mar 2008

摘要

The main objective/hypothesis for this proposal is that additional diagnostic and prognostic insight can be obtained through analysis of tumor- related DNA integrity and methylation in patient serum. Additionally, DNA biomarkers will be assessed for their usefulness in predicting early disease recurrence and progression in patients during PCa treatment. The scope of the studies is to optimize and validate Alu, LINE1 and uLINE1 assays for assessment of prostate cancer (PCa) patient serum targeted for clinical utility. For the first year, we have put in place specimen procurement and processing protocols and optimized assays for Alu qRT and LINE1 qRT. The uLINE1 AQAMA (absolute quantitative allele methylation assay) assay is also near optimal. We have utilized prostate cell lines and tumor specimens for the initial assay optimization and validation. In the coming year, more PCA patients will be accrued as well as further accrual of serum at defined treatment intervals. Assays for the markers will be carried out once we have obtained statistically meaningful numbers of serum sets of PCa patients in treatment. We are also continuing our efforts in discovering additional clinically relevant DNA biomarkers.