Dataset Information

Cancer/Testis Antigens: "Smart" Biomarkers for Diagnosis and Prognosis of Prostate and Other Cancers.

ABSTRACT: A clinical dilemma in the management of prostate cancer (PCa) is to distinguish men with aggressive disease who need definitive treatment from men who may not require immediate intervention. Accurate prediction of disease behavior is critical because radical treatment is associated with high morbidity. Here, we highlight the cancer/testis antigens (CTAs) as potential PCa biomarkers. The CTAs are a group of proteins that are typically restricted to the testis in the normal adult but are aberrantly expressed in several types of cancers. Interestingly, >90% of CTAs are predicted to belong to the realm of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), which do not have unique structures and exist as highly dynamic conformational ensembles, but are known to play important roles in several biological processes. Using prostate-associated gene 4 (PAGE4) as an example of a disordered CTA, we highlight how IDP conformational dynamics may regulate phenotypic heterogeneity in PCa cells, and how it may be exploited both as a potential biomarker as well as a promising therapeutic target in PCa. We also discuss how in addition to intrinsic disorder and post-translational modifications, structural and functional variability induced in the CTAs by alternate splicing represents an important feature that might have different roles in different cancers. Although it is clear that significant additional work needs to be done in the outlined direction, this novel concept emphasizing (multi)functionality as an important trait in selecting a biomarker underscoring the theranostic potential of CTAs that is latent in their structure (or, more appropriately, the lack thereof), and casts them as next generation or "smart" biomarker candidates.

SUBMITTER: Kulkarni P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5412325 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Cancer/Testis Antigens: "Smart" Biomarkers for Diagnosis and Prognosis of Prostate and Other Cancers.

Kulkarni Prakash P Uversky Vladimir N VN

International journal of molecular sciences 20170331 4

A clinical dilemma in the management of prostate cancer (PCa) is to distinguish men with aggressive disease who need definitive treatment from men who may not require immediate intervention. Accurate prediction of disease behavior is critical because radical treatment is associated with high morbidity. Here, we highlight the cancer/testis antigens (CTAs) as potential PCa biomarkers. The CTAs are a group of proteins that are typically restricted to the testis in the normal adult but are aberrantl ...[more]

PMID: 28362316

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Project description:Detection of DNA hypermethylation has emerged as a novel molecular biomarker for the evaluation of prostate cancer diagnosis and prognosis, but the use of single gene hypermethylation could produce unspecific results. Defining the specific gene hypermethylation profile for prostate cancer could provide groups of genes that specifically discriminate the patients with indolent and aggressive tumors. To compare the methylation profile of normal and malignant prostate we performed Genome-wide methylation analysis on 83 tumor samples, that included all clinical stages of the disease, 10 normal prostate samples and LNCaP, DU145 and PC3 prostate cancer cell lines using the GoldenGate Methylation Cancer Panel I (Illumina, Inc.) that interrogate for 1505 CpGs. We found 41 genes significantly hypermethylated in more than 20% of the tumors analyzed (p<0.01). Of these we identified GSTM2 and PENK as novel hypermethylated genes in prostate cancer that were simultaneously methylated in 40.9% of the tumors analyzed. We also identified panels of genes more frequently methylated in tumor samples with clinico-pathological indicators of poor prognosis: high Gleason score, elevated Ki-67 or advanced disease. Of these, we found that simultaneous hypermethylation of CFTR and HTR1B is common in patients with high Gleason score and high ki-67 levels and might signal the population at higher risk of therapeutic failure. DNA hypermethylation profile was associated with cancer-specific mortality (log-rank, p=0.007) and biochemical recurrence-free survival (log-rank, p=0.0008). In conclusion, our data strongly indicate that epigenetic silencing of GSTM2 and PENK is a common event in prostate cancer that could be used as a molecular marker for prostate cancer diagnosis. In addition, simultaneous HTR1B and CFTR hypermethylation could help discriminate aggressive from indolent prostate tumors.A DNA hypermethylation profile associated with cancer-specific mortality and biochemical recurrence in patients receiving radical prostatectomy is presented. GST2 and PENK are new hipermethylated genes identified. Simultaneous hypermethylation of CFTR and HTR1B could help discriminate aggressive disease.

Dataset Information

Cancer/Testis Antigens: "Smart" Biomarkers for Diagnosis and Prognosis of Prostate and Other Cancers.

Publications

Cancer/Testis Antigens: "Smart" Biomarkers for Diagnosis and Prognosis of Prostate and Other Cancers.

Similar Datasets

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