CancerMap project prostate cancer microarray dataset

Microarray expression profiling has currently failed to provide a consistent classification for human prostate cancer. Such classifications are important because they provide a framework for the identification of new biomarkers of clinical behavior and for the development of targeted therapies. We hypothesize that previous studies have been unsuccessful because of their failure to take into account the well documented occurrence of prostate cancer multifocality and genetic heterogeneity. We have invented a novel method for collecting whole RNALater preserved research slices from prostatectomy specimens that, for the first time, allows the mapping of multifocality and of genetic heterogeneity in prostate cancer to be integrated with the selection of samples for expression microarray analysis. For each specimen we will construct a map of the regions of cancer and of their ERG gene rearrangement status from whole mount formalin fixed sections immediately juxtaposed to the research slice. Only foci of cancers containing a homogeneous pattern of ERG gene alteration will be selected for study. A pilot study has already demonstrated the feasibility of this approach, and provides initial evidence that cancers may be stratified into at least two prognostically distinct categories. Novel biomarkers defining distinct prostate cancer categories will be verified and validated in future studies linked to clinical trials.

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