Abstract: There is described herein a method of predicting disease progression risk in a subject with prostate cancer, the method comprising: a) providing a sample containing RNA and DNA material from tumour cells; b) determining or measuring values for substantially all of patient features listed for PRONTO-e or PRONTO-m in Table 6, and some or all reference or control features set forth in Table 6; c) comparing said patient features to the reference or control features; and d) computing a prediction score using a classifier that takes said patient feature values as input, the classifier having been previously trained on samples from a population of early prostate cancer patients.

Abstract: The invention is directed to compounds and methods for treating or preventing hormone-resistant prostate cancer using siRNA specific for protocadherin-PC, or other inhibitors of protocadherin-PC expression or activity, including antisense oligonucleotides and antibodies. The invention also provides for the use of protocadherin-PC as an in vivo prostate cancer biomarker, and includes a kit for detecting prostate cancer in biological samples. Also covered by the invention is a transgenic non-human mammal engineered to overexpress protocadherin-PC specifically in the prostate.

Abstract: The invention is directed to compounds and methods for treating or preventing hormone-resistant prostate cancer using siRNA specific for protocadherin-PC, or other inhibitors of protocadherin-PC expression or activity, including antisense oligonucleotides and antibodies. The invention also provides for the use of protocadherin-PC as an in vivo prostate cancer biomarker, and includes a kit for detecting prostate cancer in biological samples. Also covered by the invention is a transgenic non-human mammal engineered to overexpress protocadherin-PC specifically in the prostate.

Abstract: This invention provides methods of: (a) diagnosing; (b) determining the stage of; and (c) monitoring the effect of a therapeutic intervention for a renal cell carcinoma in a human subject which comprises detecting the expression of the MN gene. In one embodiment, the method is directed to detection of the renal cell carcinoma known as clear cell carcinoma. In another embodiment, the method is used as a peripheral blood assay. In another embodiment, the method is a polymerase chain reaction assay for amplifying and detecting the presence of the cDNA molecule encoding the MN protein.

Abstract: This invention provides methods of (a) diagnosing; (b) determining the stage of; and (c) monitoring the effect of a therapeutic intervention for a renal cell carcinoma in a human subject which comprises detecting the expression of the MN gene. In one embodiment, the method is directed to detection of the renal cell carcinoma known as clear cell carcinoma. In another embodiment, the method is used as a peripheral blood assay. In another embodiment, the method is a polymerase chain reaction assay for amplifying and detecting the presence of the cDNA molecule encoding the MN protein.

Abstract: A method for enhancing the detection of prostate specific antigen in a biological sample comprising (a) extracting mRNA from the sample: (b) contacting the mRNA from step (a) with reverse transcriptase under conditions allowing for the production of cDNA; (c) contacting the cDNA from step (b) with a pair of reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction primers capable of specifically hybridizing with DNA encoding prostate specific antigen wherein one such primer is an oligonucleotide of 12 to 30 nucleotides in length and comprises the sequence 5-CACCCATCCTA-3' and wherein the second such primer is an oligonucleotide of 12 to 30 nucleotides in length and comprises the sequence 5'-TCCAGCCACGAC-3'; and wherein at least one of the primers is covalently linked to a modified digoxigenin molecule and under conditions allowing for extension of the primers; and (d) detecting the resulting amplified DNA.

Abstract: This invention provides a method of determining the stage of prostate cancer in a human subject using a sample of peripheral blood from a human subject. The invention uses reverse transcriptase-PCR to detect the mRNA encoding prostate specific antigen (PSA) in circulating cells expressing PSA. The invention further uses digoxigenin enhancement of the resultant cDNA signal. The method has an overall sensitivity capable of detecting one PSA expressing cell per 100,000 cells. The method produced no false positives and had a superior detection selectivity for patients with nonlocalized prostate cancer.