Biomarker Based Individual Risk Assessment for Prostate Cancer.

摘要

There is a surprising disparity between the number of protein- encoding genes (ca. 30,000) in the human genome and the number of proteins (ca. 300,000) in the human proteome has inspired the development of translational proteomics aimed at protein expression profiling of disease states. Translational proteomics, which offers the promise of early disease detection and individualized therapy, requires new methods for analysis of clinical specimens. We have developed Quantitative Fluorescence Imaging Analysis (QFIA) for accurate, reproducible quantification of proteins in slide-mounted tissues. The method has been validated for analysis of beta-catenin in archived prostate specimens fixed in formalin. Beta-catenin expression was analyzed in a cross- sectional case-control study that included 42 cancer cases and 42 controls matched on the basis of age (5 years) and year of biopsy (3 years). Reduced expression of beta-catenin in Normal Appearing Acini (NAA) relative to the Normal Acini (NA) of matched controls is a potential field marker for Prostate Cancer, in biopsies that miss existing adenocarcinomas. The observed sensitivity (42%) and specificity (88%) qualify the marker as a potentially significant contributor to a small panel of field markers, and support the feasibility of applying QFIA to the development of such a panel.