HOXC5 as a Biomarker of Disease Presence in Tumor-Associated Normal Prostate

Abstract : Our preliminary data had suggested that HOXC5 gene expression was increased in prostate tumor and in tumor-associated normal epithelium compared to epithelium from normal prostate, raising hopes that HOXC5 could be a biomarker that could guide whether a patient with a negative biopsy should undergo a rebiopsy. We compared methods for preparation of RNA from formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded tissue and used the best method to prepare RNA from normal prostate tissue and from dissected tumor and tumor-associated normal tissue. While there was a trend toward increased frequency of HOXC5 expression in tumor and tumor-associated normal tissue compared to normal prostate, the trend fell slightly short of statistical significance. Moreover, there was only a small difference between the frequency of detection of HOXC5 expression in normal and tumor-associated normal. These results do not support the efficacy of HOXC5 as a biomarker for the presence of tumor elsewhere in the gland.