We established 4 tissue arrays of 8 prostate cancer patients before and 8 patients after androgen ablation therapy, as well as 2 prostate samples from non-tumor affected prostates as controls. To compare the expression levels of candidate oncogenes from patients without prostate cancer (PC), normal prostate tissue was included from prostates of patients that underwent a cystectomy operation. Target gene expression analysis was performed using immunofluorescence microscopy and digital image analysis techniques from our Partner TissueGnostics. Suppressors of cytokine signaling (SOCS) proteins regulate development and progression of various malignant diseases. We quantified Androgen Receptor (AR) and Socs-1 protein expression levels. It was previously shown that SOCS-3 is expressed in prostate cancer and its expression is inversely correlated with activation of Stat3. The in vivo protein expression of these oncogenes was measured without the mesenchymal background. The areas containing the mesenchymal cells were deleted to obtain an epithelial cell specific mask for analysis. The results were verified by analysis with the software of TissueQuest™. AR is significantly overexpressed in high- and low grade prostate cancers. SOCS-1 expression decreased in samples taken from patients undergoing hormonal therapy but increased in specimens from patients who failed therapy. In summary, we showed that SOCS-1 is expressed in prostate cancer in vivo and acts as a negative growth regulator. This work is done in close collaboration with the excellent partner group of Prof. Zoran Culig at the Medical University of Innsbruck (http://www.zculig.org).
Tissue Micro Array (TMA) technology is essential for investigating high numbers of human tissue samples from prostate cancer patients. This TMA compare normal, PIN as well as low and high Gleasongrade prostate cancer patient samples.
Digital image analysis from prostate cancer patient samples. Human prostate tissue microarrays (TMAs) were analyzed by immunofluorescence microscopy. Samples were triple stained using DAPI and specific antibodies against tumor specific marker AMACR (FITC) and CK 18 (Rhodamine) using TissueGnostics software.