The results of the study, "Expression of Cell-Cycle-regulated Proteins pRb2/p130, p107, p27kip1, p53, Mdm-2, and Ki-67 (MIB-1) in Prostatic Gland Adenocarcinoma," appear in the June issue of Clinical Cancer Research (http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org).

In the study, which was started at Thomas Jefferson University and completed at Temple's Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, the researchers looked at the pattern of protein expression in a variety of molecular markers in prostate cancer, including Rb2, p107, p27, p53, Mdm-2, and Ki-67.

"The results we obtained with Rb2, which is a tumor suppressor gene, indicate that this gene demonstrates a lower expression in the prostate as it progresses from normal to cancerous," says Antonio Giordano, Ph.D., M.D., head of the Sbarro Institute and one of the study's lead researchers. "The lack of this tumor suppressor gene can, in a certain sense be, an indicator of tumor progression in the prostate gland."

Giordano says the results of the study show that in addition to PSA (prostate specific antigen), a protein whose level in the blood increases in some men who have prostate cancer, there are other factors that could serve as major indicators for individuals susceptible to developing prostate cancer, which is the leading cause of death by cancer of American men.

"For the first time, we have demonstrated that there really is a link between the Rb2/p130 and prostate cancer," says Giordano, a professor of biology at Temple (http://www.temple.edu/news_media/hkg696.html). "It's clear that this study is leading us to an early diagnostic test for
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Contact: Preston M. Moretz
pmoretz@temple.edu
215-204-7476
Temple University
6-Jun-2002