The molecular project of this Program Project to study human carcinoma of the prostate (CaP) has several objectives. The first is to catalogue and store a library of well-controlled patient specimens of CaP suitable for molecular analyses. Molecular analyses, primarily utilizing the polymerase chain reaction analysis of mRNA (RNA/PCR), will target the human androgen receptor (hAR) gene for both quantitative and qualitative studies. An initial panel of tumor-associated genes will also be evaluated to determine their role, if any, in the progression of CaP and their value in the prognosis of CaP. These include the metastatic suppressor gene family (nm23) and the anti-oncogenes p53 and Rb-1. The studies of nm23 will assess gene expression levels while the studies of p53 and Rb-1 will focus primarily on inactivating mutations. A final goal is to identify CaP-specific markers through a strategy of subtractive hybridization. This project relies on and benefits from the groups providing pertinent patient data with the clinical specimens, as well as ongoing statistical analysis of the molecular data with respect to clinical utility.
