Circulating Prostate Cancer Progenitor Cell Assay Development

This Phase I contract proposal will evaluate and identify markers associated with prostate cancer progenitor stem cells, that differentiate these cells from adult tissue stem cells and benign prostate progenitor cells. The eventual goal of this work would be to develop a high throughput blood-based assay highly specific for circulating prostate cancer progenitor cells. A cell shed from a tumor must be capable of surviving separate from the microenvironment of the primary tumor, and possess the capacities of proliferation and plasticity, to regenerate a metastasis. These traits essentially describe a cancer stem cell (CSC). Therefore, we propose to develop a technology to identify circulating CSCs, or more accurately the progenitor cells that are their immediate progeny, an approach that should provide a more informative prognostic tool for prediction of aggressiveness and metastatic potential.