Project description:To investigate genetic and molecular differences that may exist between prostate cancers of African American and European American origin. Gene expression profile analysis was performed comparing RNA seq data of African American prostate cancer cell lines (inhouse) and European American prostate cancer cell lines (public repository)
Project description:African American men experience a higher incidence and severity of prostate cancer relative to European American men, and there is a range of risk factors that may contribute to this disparity. Prostate adenocarcinoma originates from the epithelium, which is significantly influenced by signaling from the surrounding fibromuscular stroma. To identify ancestry-associated differences in the stroma, gene expression profiling was compared between laser-capture microdissected prostate cancer stroma from patients of African descent and those of European descent. Estrogen receptor signaling was the top differential pathway between the groups, with the steroid hormone dehydrogenase HSD17B7 identified as the most differentially expressed gene. In a separate cohort of patients, protein expression of HSD17B7 was higher in African American patients relative to European American patients in a radical prostatectomy tissue microarray, validating the transcriptional findings. African American patients also exhibited significantly increased levels of HSD17B7 protein in the stroma surrounding benign areas compared to the stroma near tumors. These studies provide important evidence of ancestry-associated differences in stromal estrogen signaling.
Project description:The incidence and mortality rates of prostate cancer are significantly higher in African-American men when compared to European-American men. We tested the hypothesis that differences in tumor biology contribute to this survival health disparity. Using microarray technology, we obtained gene expression profiles of primary prostate tumors resected from 33 African-American and 36 European-American patients. These tumors were matched on clinical parameters. We also evaluated 18 non-tumor prostate tissues from 7 African-American and 11 European-American patients. The resulting datasets were analyzed for expression differences on the gene and pathway level comparing African-American with European-American patients. Our analysis revealed a significant number of genes, e.g., 162 transcripts at a false-discovery rate less than 5%, to be differently expressed between African-American and European-American patients. Using a disease association analysis, we identified a common relationship of these transcripts with autoimmunity and inflammation. These findings were corroborated on the pathway level with numerous differently expressed genes clustering in immune response, stress response, cytokine signaling, and chemotaxis pathways. Furthermore, a two-gene tumor signature was identified that accurately differentiated between African-American and European-American patients. This finding was confirmed in a blinded analysis of a second sample set. In conclusion, the gene expression profiles of prostate tumors indicate prominent differences in tumor immunobiology between African-American and European-American men. The profiles portray the existence of a distinct tumor microenvironment in these two patient groups. Keywords: Microdissected tissue analysis
Project description:Gene expression profiling of the prostate biopsy samples (cancer and adjacent normal tissues) from African American prostate cancer patients
Project description:Gene expression characteristics of primary prostate cancer tumors from African-Americans are substantially different as compared to European-American men