Predicting Prostate Cancer Recurrence by Gene Expression Analysis of Formalin-Fixed, Paraffin Embedded Tissue; Annual rept. 30 Oct 2006-29 Oct 2007

摘要

Prostate cancer is the leading cancer diagnosed in men and accounts for approximately 30,000 deaths per year in the US, with large racial disparities in outcome. In additional to racial differences in outcome, factors affecting prognosis include clinical stage, Gleason grade, and PSA levels. The genetic contribution to prostate cancer risk is well accepted, but less has been done to evaluate the genetic contribution to recurrence risk and variation by race. With the advent of newer technologies, discovery of molecular signatures of prognosis is now possible and is the focus of this study. Using a new application, Illumina's DASL assay, we are evaluating approximately 500 genes for expression differences comparing men with and without recurrence. The gene expression sets for African American men will be compared to those for white men to identify genes contributing to racial disparities in outcome. A unique and diverse patient population has been identified and biospecimens processed for gene expression studies of prostate cancer recurrence and racial disparities in outcome. From the eligible study population, RNA has been isolated from 608 tumor samples. This work has taken the first year of the grant to complete. Next steps include finalization of the genes to be included on the expression array and conducting the expression analysis.