Translational Research

The Division of Urology is involved in translational research working to improve the pace by which laboratory findings make their way to patient care. The faculty in the Division of Urology is working in collaboration with Shuk-mei Ho, Ph.D., director and chair of the Department of Environmental Health at the University of Cincinnati in conducting a Department of Defense sponsored research project entitled Development of a New Protocol for Prostate Cancer Detection. Prostate cancer is the most frequent cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related death in men in the United States. Widely used serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing has led to a dramatic increase in prostate cancer being found in early potential curable stage. However, the lack of specificity of the PSA causes up to 70% of men who undergo prostate biopsy due to elevated PSA to be deemed cancer-free. Dr. Ho, in co-operation with Dr. Bruce Bracken, Dr. James Donovan, and others from the Division of Urology, is working on the development of novel approaches which could detect prostate cancer early with high specificity. Currently they are developing quantitative RT-PCR-based urine sediment test of biomarkers, alpha-methylacyl-CoA-racemase (AMACR) and prostate cancer antigen 3 (PCA3). To date the data from 93 patients showed that both AMACR and PCA3 transcript could significantly distinguish specimens with prostate cancer from prostate cancer-free specimens. Combining tests of the two biomarkers further improve accuracy of detection, therefore could have utility in reducing unnecessary prostate biopsy. They also plan to co-operate in studies of approaches for predicting the disease prognosis, exploring the mechanism of drug resistance, and monitoring the recurrence of prostate cancer.