| Name | Fayola Levine |
| Institution | Hunter College, City University of New York |
| Research Field | Basic Research |
| Role at Institution | Graduate Student |
| Presenter(s) | Fayola Levine |
Investigating the Clinical Relevance in Prostate Cancer of the Serum Biomarkers PVT1 Exons 4A, 4B and 9 Across Risk Levels and Ethnicity/Race
Fayola Levine 1, 2, Emmanuel Asante-Asamani, Gargi Pal 1, 2, Michael Liss 3, Robin Leach 3, and Olorunseun O. Ogunwobi 1, 2.
1Department of Biological Sciences, Hunter College of the City University of New York, New York, NY
2Hunter College Center for Cancer Health Disparities Research (CCHDR), New York, NY
3University of Texas at San Antonio
Chromosome 8q24 is of particular importance for cancer susceptibility. Located in this region is the Plasmacytoma Variant Translocation 1 (PVT1) gene, a long noncoding RNA that has been implicated in multiple cancers including prostate cancer. Amplification of the PVT1 gene locus is a common event in many malignant diseases and is associated with poor clinical outcomes. The pioneering role of PVT1, and its alternatively spliced transcripts, as a cancer biomarker is progressively becoming established. We have demonstrated that copy numbers of PVT1 exons 4A, 4B and 9 is quantifiable in cancer cells, tissue, and serum from cancer patients. In this study, we assessed clinically annotated serum samples from 40 prostate cancer patients to investigate the clinical relevance of PVT1 exons 4A, 4B, and 9 as a biomarker across cancer risk levels and ethnicity/race. Explorative data analysis for the development of composite score for prostate cancer was performed using Kruskal-Wallis Rank Sum Test. We observed significantly higher copy numbers of PVT1 exons 4B and 9 across all races (White, Black and Hispanic) and Blacks and Hispanics when compared to the control. Additionally, using a 3-level cancer risk rating assessment in which 0 = healthy, 1 = low risk and 2 = high risk, we observed that PVT1 exon 9 may distinguish between cancerous and noncancerous cases across all races, but may not help distinguish between indolent and aggressive cancer cases. Notably, PVT1 exon 4B may help distinguish between indolent and aggressive cancer cases for Blacks and Hispanics. The results of this study suggest that using PVT1 exon 4B or 9 may identify cancer regardless of ethnicity/race, and that utilization of serum PVT1 exon 4B copy number may help distinguish between indolent and aggressive prostate cancer in Blacks and Hispanics.
Email questions and comments about this abstract to Fayola.Levine20@myhunter.cuny.edu.