Translational Research for Identifying Potential Early-stage Prostate Cancer Biomarkers

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common types of cancer in men. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is currently the only biomarker used to screen for the risk of developing PCa. Because PSA tests may show false positives, identifying novel PCa-specific biomarkers would improve prediction and diagnosis at an early stage. Previously, we identified a number of genes/microRNAs (miRNAs) in prostate tissue as potential biomarkers of chronic prostatitis in a rat model of chemical-induced prostatitis. The current study aimed to evaluate their potential for use as translational, diagnostic markers in humans.

We performed quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis using pathologically clear (normal) or confirmed PCa tissue samples from the same patients (N=18 per group).

Levels (relative fold changes) of bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP7) transcripts were significantly lower in PCa tissues, compared with clear tissues, in a paired t-test (p=0.0075). Although neural cell adhesion molecule 1 (NCAM1) transcripts tended to be altered in PCa tissues, statistically insignificant differences were observed (p=0.0521). No statistically significant differences were observed for the other genes/miRNAs analyzed in PCa tissues due to a high degree of individual variance in expression.

Similar to the results previously observed in rats, changes in the levels of BMP7 and NCAM1 transcripts were evident in human PCa tissues, suggesting that these genes may serve as potential diagnostic biomarkers during the early stages of PCa. Further studies are needed to determine the potential use of these molecules as biomarkers.