Biomarkers
Individual candidates identified through our cancer genomics discovery platform are evaluated as tissue, serum and urine biomarkers for prostate cancer. This approach has led to the discovery of several potential tissue biomarkers of prostate cancer, including ERG, hepsin, pim-l kinase, N-Methylacyl-CoA racemase (AMACR), EZH2 and TPD52, among others. AMACR represents one of the successes of these global profiling efforts as it has been translated into clinical use as a biomarker of prostate cancer in prostate needle biopsies. Genitourinary pathologists at the University of Michigan, University of Massachusetts, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Johns Hopkins University are using AMACR in clinically challenging prostate needle biopsies. Potentially, this will lead to fewer repeat biopsies as well as more definitive molecular-based diagnoses.
This laboratory has gone on to characterize anti-AMACR antibodies in the serum of prostate cancer patients (JNCI, 96:834) to supplement PSA in the detection of prostate cancer. As might be expected, this aspect of the laboratory is focused on identifying clinically useful biomarkers of disease and not mechanism-based science. We are using novel bioinformatics approaches to analyze high-throughput data to identify biomarkers that will help in the specific diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer.
