Analysis of Primary and Metastatic Prostate Cancer from Men with Untreated Prostate Cancer

Kenneth Pienta, MD
University of Michigan

The goal of this project is to develop a comprehensive biorepository from individuals with untreated primary and metastatic prostate cancer to 1.) better define the molecular basis for prostate cancer progression, 2.) discover new biomarkers of aggressive and potentially lethal prostate cancer, and 3.) identify new therapeutic targets for this disease. Dr. Pienta and colleagues have proposed to collect serum, circulating tumor cells (cancer cells that broke away from the tumor and entered circulation), DNA, plasma, urine and biopsies from the primary tumor and metastatic sites including bone, lymph nodes and other soft tissue sites of cancer involvement. This biospecimen repository will be unique because these patients’ metastatic site samples are pre-treatment. Autopsy specimens of metastatic prostate cancer that had been treated are useful. However, the selective pressure of long-term treatment exposure causes distinct molecular changes and cellular selection of a patient’s tumor cells which complicates molecular studies of tumor progression and hinders the identification of therapeutic targets. All of these biospecimens will be analyzed using high-throughput molecular biotechnologies and will be made available to the global research community.