Prostate Cancer Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Prostate Cancer, including details on symptoms, genetics, screening, treatment, information.

Quantitative multi-gene expression profiling of primary prostate cancer.

Schmidt U, Fuessel S, Koch R, Baretton GB, Lohse A, Tomasetti S, Unversucht S, Froehner M, Wirth MP, Meye A

Department of Urology, Technical University of Dresden, Germany.

BACKGROUND: This study describes the evaluation of the expression patterns of prostate-related transcripts in 106 matched prostate tissues from prostatectomies as predictors for prostate cancer (PCa). METHODS: Quantitative PCR (QPCR) assays with site-specific hybridization probes were established for four housekeeping genes (GAPDH, HPRT, PBGD, TBP) and nine prostate-related genes (AibZIP, D-GPCR, EZH2, PCA3, PDEF, prostein, PSA, PSCA, TRPM8). RESULTS: The relative mRNA expression levels of AibZIP, D-GPCR, EZH2, PCA3, PDEF, PSA, TRPM8 (all P < 0.001) and prostein (P = 0.019) normalized to the TBP reference gene were significantly higher in malignant compared to non-malignant prostate tissues. Employing receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analyses, PCA3 was the best single tumor marker with the highest area-under-the-curve (AUC = 0.85). A multivariate logit model for the predictability of the tumor was developed, which employed the relative expression levels of EZH2, PCA3, prostein, and TRPM8 and yielded an AUC of 0.90. CONCLUSIONS: The transcript marker PCA3 is a powerful predictor of primary PCa but the inclusion of EZH2, prostein, and TRPM8 adds even more to the diagnostic power. The finding of a significantly higher mRNA expression of three different genes (prostein, PSA, TRPM8) in organ-confined tumors compared to non-organ-confined tumors as well as the multi-marker PCa prediction model developed in the retrospective model system on prostatectomies could be of clinical importance for diagnostic purposes, and should be verified in diagnostic biopsies.

Published 4 September 2006 in Prostate, 66(14): 1521-34.
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