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Updated: Aug 29, 2026

An Orthotopic Murine Model of Human Prostate Cancer Metastasis
Published on: September 18, 2013
Elevated expression of PCGEM1, a prostate-specific gene with cell growth-promoting function, is associated with
Gyorgy Petrovics1, Wei Zhang, Mazen Makarem
1Department of Surgery, Center for Prostate Disease Research, US Military Cancer Institute, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814-4799, USA. gpetrovics@cpdr.org
Abstract:
PCGEM1 is a novel, highly prostate tissue-specific, androgen-regulated gene. Here, we demonstrate that PCGEM1 expression is significantly higher in prostate cancer (CaP) cells of African-American men than in Caucasian-American men (P=0.0002). Further, increased PCGEM1 expression associates with normal prostate epithelial cells of CaP patients with a family history of CaP (P=0.0400). PCGEM1 overexpression in LNCaP and in NIH3T3 cells promotes cell proliferation and a dramatic increase in colony formation, suggesting a biological role of PCGEM1 in cell growth regulation. Taken together, the cell proliferation/colony formation-promoting functions of PCGEM1 and the association of its increased expression with high-risk CaP patients suggest the potential roles of PCGEM1 in CaP onset/progression, especially in these high-risk groups.
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