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Updated: Oct 18, 2025

Phosphopeptide Enrichment Coupled with Label-free Quantitative Mass Spectrometry to Investigate the Phosphoproteome in Prostate Cancer
Published on: August 2, 2018
Multifunctionality of Prostatic Acid Phosphatase in Prostate Cancer Pathogenesis.
Evgenia Alpert1, Armin Akhavan2, Arie Gruzman2
1Bioconformatics laboratory of the California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) Research Institute, Ramat-Gan, California, United States.
A novel proteomic tool revealed three distinct forms of human prostatic acid phosphatase (PAcP). One form, PLPAcP, is linked to early prostate cancer, suggesting new therapeutic targets.
Area of Science:
- Biochemistry
- Molecular Biology
- Oncology
Background:
- Human prostatic acid phosphatase (PAcP) is implicated in prostate cancer.
- Understanding PAcP's diverse roles requires advanced proteomic techniques.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of PAcP in prostate cancer using signal sequence swapping.
- To identify and characterize different functional forms of PAcP.
Main Methods:
- Utilized signal sequence swapping, a proteomic tool to alter protein biogenesis pathways.
- Analyzed PAcP's distinct forms based on physiological function, subcellular location, and biochemical properties.
Main Results:
- Identified three PAcP forms with identical amino acid sequences but different properties.
- Discovered that one form, PLPAcP, correlates with early-stage prostate cancer in clinical specimens.
Conclusions:
- The signal sequence swapping technique effectively reveals distinct protein subsets.
- PLPAcP plays a role in prostate cancer pathogenesis.
- Findings suggest novel therapeutic strategies targeting PLPAcP.
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