P704P, P712P, and P775P: A genomic cluster of prostate‐specific genes

Abstract BACKGROUND Discovery of prostate cancer‐ and tissue‐specific genes will lead to an increased understanding of the molecular events associated with the malignant transformation and tumorigenesis of prostate cells. Such understanding will likely result in the development of promising new markers for screening, diagnosis, and prognosis, as well as potential therapeutic approaches for combating this disease. METHODS A PCR‐based subtraction method was combined with a high‐throughput microarray screening approach to identify prostate tissue‐ and/or cancer‐specific genes. Northern blot and quantitative real‐time PCR were used to confirm prostate specificity. Bioinformatics analysis was performed to determine gene localization and to identify the open reading frame of novel genes. RESULTS Three novel cDNA clones, P704P, P712P, and P775P, were identified and characterized to be specific for normal and malignant prostate tissues. Furthermore, P712P mRNA expression was found to be androgen responsive in LNCaP cells. Sequences for all three cDNAs were localized to an 80 kb genomic region on chromosome 22. Attempts to identify full‐length transcripts did not reveal any apparent open reading frames, indicating that P704P, P712P, and P775P may belong to a novel class of transcripts with specific patterns of gene expression that do not code for translated proteins. CONCLUSIONS A genomic cluster of prostate‐specific genes with no apparent open reading frame has been discovered using a high‐throughput approach combining subtraction with microarray. This may represent an important genomic region having possible connections to prostate biology with potential applications in prostate diagnostics and therapy. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.