Skip to main content
  • AACR Publications
    • Blood Cancer Discovery
    • Cancer Discovery
    • Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention
    • Cancer Immunology Research
    • Cancer Prevention Research
    • Cancer Research
    • Clinical Cancer Research
    • Molecular Cancer Research
    • Molecular Cancer Therapeutics

  • Register
  • Log in
  • My Cart
Advertisement

Main menu

  • Home
  • About
    • The Journal
    • AACR Journals
    • Subscriptions
    • Permissions and Reprints
    • Reviewing
  • Articles
    • OnlineFirst
    • Current Issue
    • Past Issues
    • Meeting Abstracts
    • Collections
      • Focus on Computer Resources
      • Highly Cited Collection
      • Editors' Picks
  • For Authors
    • Information for Authors
    • Author Services
    • Early Career Award
    • Best of: Author Profiles
    • Submit
  • Alerts
    • Table of Contents
    • OnlineFirst
    • Editors' Picks
    • Citations
    • Author/Keyword
  • News
    • Cancer Discovery News
  • AACR Publications
    • Blood Cancer Discovery
    • Cancer Discovery
    • Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention
    • Cancer Immunology Research
    • Cancer Prevention Research
    • Cancer Research
    • Clinical Cancer Research
    • Molecular Cancer Research
    • Molecular Cancer Therapeutics

User menu

  • Register
  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Cancer Research
Cancer Research

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • About
    • The Journal
    • AACR Journals
    • Subscriptions
    • Permissions and Reprints
    • Reviewing
  • Articles
    • OnlineFirst
    • Current Issue
    • Past Issues
    • Meeting Abstracts
    • Collections
      • Focus on Computer Resources
      • Highly Cited Collection
      • Editors' Picks
  • For Authors
    • Information for Authors
    • Author Services
    • Early Career Award
    • Best of: Author Profiles
    • Submit
  • Alerts
    • Table of Contents
    • OnlineFirst
    • Editors' Picks
    • Citations
    • Author/Keyword
  • News
    • Cancer Discovery News
Advances in Brief

α-Methylacyl-CoA Racemase

A New Molecular Marker for Prostate Cancer

Jun Luo, Shan Zha, Wesley R. Gage, Thomas A. Dunn, Jessica L. Hicks, Christina J. Bennett, Charles M. Ewing, Elizabeth A. Platz, Sacha Ferdinandusse, Ronald J. Wanders, Jeffrey M. Trent, William B. Isaacs and Angelo M. De Marzo
Jun Luo
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Shan Zha
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Wesley R. Gage
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Thomas A. Dunn
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jessica L. Hicks
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Christina J. Bennett
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Charles M. Ewing
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Elizabeth A. Platz
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Sacha Ferdinandusse
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Ronald J. Wanders
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jeffrey M. Trent
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
William B. Isaacs
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Angelo M. De Marzo
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
DOI:  Published April 2002
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

Identification of genes that are dysregulated in association with prostate carcinogenesis can provide disease markers and clues relevant to disease etiology. Of particular interest as candidate markers of disease are those genes that are frequently overexpressed. In this study, we describe a gene, α-methylacyl-CoA racemase (AMACR), whose expression is consistently up-regulated in prostate cancer. Analysis of mRNA levels of AMACR revealed an average up-regulation of ∼9 fold in clinical prostate cancer specimens compared with normal. Western blot and immunohistochemical analysis confirms the up-regulation at the protein level and localizes the enzyme predominantly to the peroxisomal compartment of prostate cancer cells. A detailed immunohistochemical analysis of samples from 168 primary prostate cancer cases using both standard slides and tissue microarrays demonstrates that both prostate carcinomas and the presumed precursor lesion (high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia) consistently scored significantly higher than matched normal prostate epithelium; 88% of the carcinomas had a staining score higher than the highest score observed for any sample of normal prostate epithelium. Both untreated metastases (n = 32 patients) and hormone refractory prostate cancers (n = 14 patients) were generally strongly positive for AMACR. To extend the utility of this marker for prostate cancer diagnosis, we combined staining for cytoplasmic AMACR with staining for the nuclear protein, p63, a basal cell marker in the prostate that is absent in prostate cancer. In a simple assay that can be useful for the diagnosis of prostate cancer on both biopsy and surgical specimens, combined staining for p63 and AMACR resulted in a staining pattern that greatly facilitated the identification of malignant prostate cells. The enzyme encoded by the AMACR gene plays a critical role in peroxisomal β oxidation of branched chain fatty acid molecules. These observations could have important epidemiological and preventive implications for prostate cancer, as the main sources of branched chain fatty acids are dairy products and beef, the consumption of which has been associated with an increased risk for prostate cancer in multiple studies. On the basis of its consistency and magnitude of cancer cell-specific expression, we propose AMACR as an important new marker of prostate cancer and that its use in combination with p63 staining will form the basis for an improved staining method for the identification of prostate carcinomas. Furthermore, the absence of AMACR staining in the vast majority of normal tissues coupled with its enzymatic activity makes AMACR the ideal candidate for development of molecular probes for the noninvasive identification of prostate cancer by imaging modalities.

Footnotes

  • The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

  • ↵1 Supported by the Peter Jay Sharp Foundation and PHS Grants CA58236 and CA78588 and a grant from the Charlotte Geyer Foundation.

  • ↵2 To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Marburg 115, Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21287.

  • Received November 19, 2001.
  • Accepted March 4, 2002.
  • ©2002 American Association for Cancer Research.
View Full Text
PreviousNext
Back to top
Cancer Research: 62 (8)
April 2002
Volume 62, Issue 8
  • Table of Contents
  • About the Cover

Sign up for alerts

View this article with LENS

Open full page PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for sharing this Cancer Research article.

NOTE: We request your email address only to inform the recipient that it was you who recommended this article, and that it is not junk mail. We do not retain these email addresses.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
α-Methylacyl-CoA Racemase
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from Cancer Research
(Your Name) thought you would be interested in this article in Cancer Research.
Citation Tools
α-Methylacyl-CoA Racemase
Jun Luo, Shan Zha, Wesley R. Gage, Thomas A. Dunn, Jessica L. Hicks, Christina J. Bennett, Charles M. Ewing, Elizabeth A. Platz, Sacha Ferdinandusse, Ronald J. Wanders, Jeffrey M. Trent, William B. Isaacs and Angelo M. De Marzo
Cancer Res April 15 2002 (62) (8) 2220-2226;

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
α-Methylacyl-CoA Racemase
Jun Luo, Shan Zha, Wesley R. Gage, Thomas A. Dunn, Jessica L. Hicks, Christina J. Bennett, Charles M. Ewing, Elizabeth A. Platz, Sacha Ferdinandusse, Ronald J. Wanders, Jeffrey M. Trent, William B. Isaacs and Angelo M. De Marzo
Cancer Res April 15 2002 (62) (8) 2220-2226;
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • Introduction
    • Materials and Methods
    • Results
    • Discussion
    • Acknowledgments
    • Footnotes
    • References
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Advertisement

Related Articles

Cited By...

More in this TOC Section

  • Recombinant Listeria Vaccines Containing PEST Sequences Are Potent Immune Adjuvants for the Tumor-Associated Antigen Human Papillomavirus-16 E7
  • Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor and Interleukin-2 Fusion cDNA for Cancer Gene Immunotherapy
  • 2-Arachidonoylglycerol
Show more Advances in Brief
  • Home
  • Alerts
  • Feedback
  • Privacy Policy
Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn  YouTube  RSS

Articles

  • Online First
  • Current Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Meeting Abstracts

Info for

  • Authors
  • Subscribers
  • Advertisers
  • Librarians
  • Reviewers

About Cancer Research

  • About the Journal
  • Editorial Board
  • Permissions
  • Submit a Manuscript
AACR logo

Copyright © 2019 by the American Association for Cancer Research.

Cancer Research Online ISSN: 1538-7445
Cancer Research Print ISSN: 0008-5472
Journal of Cancer Research ISSN: 0099-7013
American Journal of Cancer ISSN: 0099-7374

Advertisement