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Updated: Mar 22, 2026
Serum and Plasma Copy Number Detection Using Real-time PCR
Published on: December 15, 2017
Assessing blood platelets as RNA biomarker source for prostate cancer
Jörg Hänze1, Peter Jakubowski1, Hendrik Heers1
1a Department of Urology and Pediatric Urology, Philipps- University Marburg , Marburg , Germany ;
Context:
Blood platelets may offer as RNA biomarker source for cancer as recently described for an oncogenic transcript in glioma patients and for PCA3 in prostate cancer (PCa) patients.
Objective:
Here, we elaborated on this aspect for PCa.
Materials And Methods:
PCA3 and other PCa-associated RNA markers were measured in platelets of PCa patients (cases) and healthy subjects (controls) in comparison to PCa cell lines by relative quantitative RT-PCR.
Results:
The RNA markers displayed heterogeneous expression patterns in cell lines and platelets, however, without significant differences between cases and controls.
Discussion And Conclusion:
The data do not support platelets as a profitable RNA source for early detection of PCa. Nonetheless, certain PCa-derived RNA markers in platelets may merit further investigation as potential prognostic biomarkers for PCa.
