Abstract: The present invention relates to methods and compositions for diagnosing prostate cancer and/or determining whether a prostate cancer patient is at increased risk of suffering a relapse, or a rapid relapse, of his cancer. It is based, at least in part, on the results of a comprehensive genome analysis on 241 prostate cancer samples (104 prostate cancer, 85 matched bloods, 49 matched benign prostate tissues adjacent to cancer, and 3 cell lines) which indicate that (i) genome copy number variation (CNV) occurred in both cancer and non-cancer tissues, and (ii) CNV predicts prostate cancer progression.

Abstract: The present invention relates to methods of treatment of clinical disorders associated with protein polymerization comprising administering, to a subject, an effective amount of carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine or another carbamazepine-like compound. It is based, at least in part, on the discovery that, in cells having a genetic defect in ?1-antitrypsin, carbamazepine was able to decrease levels of the mutant protein. Furthermore, carbamazepine reduced the hepatic load of mutant ?1-antitrypsin and the toxic effect of that mutant protein accumulation, hepatic fibrosis, in vivo using a mouse model of the disease. As patients having this defect in ?1-antitrypsin exhibit toxic accumulations of the protein, treatment according to the invention may be used to ameliorate symptoms and signs of disease.