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Updated: Jul 30, 2026
Microarray-based Identification of Individual HERV Loci Expression: Application to Biomarker Discovery in Prostate Cancer
Published on: November 2, 2013
Molecular detection of prostate epithelial cells from the surgical field and peripheral circulation during radical
1Department of Urology, McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University, Evanston Hospital, Illinois 60201, USA.
Purpose:
Prostate cancer progression despite organ confined pathological assessment has been reported in a variable number of men after radical retropubic prostatectomy. To study this phenomenon, we used the prostate specific antigen (PSA) reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction assay.
Materials And Methods:
We prospectively assayed the peripheral venous blood before, during and after surgical manipulation as well as the intraoperative field blood for PSA reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction-positive cells in 22 men undergoing radical retropubic prostatectomy.
Results:
PSA reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction-positive cells were identified in 20 of the 22 operative field samples (91%) and 4 of 16 (25%) had evidence of intraoperative hematogenous dissemination (p = 0.046). No significant association was identified among Gleason score, pathological stage and the PSA reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction result.
Conclusions:
Our results suggest that tumor cell spillage and less frequently hematogenous dissemination may be associated with operative manipulation of the prostate during radical retropubic prostatectomy and may potentially represent mechanisms of failure after radical retropubic prostatectomy.
