PCGEM1, a prostate-specific gene, is overexpressed in prostate cancer

A prostate-specific gene, PCGEM1, was identified by differential display analysis of paired normal and prostate cancer tissues. Multiple tissue Northern blot analysis revealed that PCGEM1 was expressed exclusively in human prostate tissue. Analysis of PCGEM1 expression in matched normal and primary tumor specimens revealed tumor-associated overexpression in 84% of patients with prostate cancer by in situ hybridization assay and in 56% of patients by reverse transcription-PCR assay. Among various prostate cancer cell lines analyzed, PCGEM1 expression was detected only in the androgen receptor-positive cell line LNCaP. Extensive DNA sequence analysis of the PCGEM1 cDNA and genomic DNA revealed that PCGEM1 lacks protein-coding capacity and suggests that it may belong to an emerging class of noncoding RNAs, also called "riboregulators." The PCGEM1 locus was mapped to chromosome 2q32. Taken together, the remarkable prostate-tissue specificity and androgen-dependent expression of PCGEM1 as well as its elevated expression in a significant percentage of tumor tissues suggest specific functions of PCGEM1 in the biology and tumorigenesis of the prostate gland.