Study the Role of Demethylation Enzyme and Related Gene in Prostate Cancer.

According to the statistics published by the Department of Health, it has been shown that prostate cancer is now the fifth common malignant tumor in men, and the trend of the cancer incidence is continue rising. Therefore, develop more accurate and effective diagnosis of prostate cancer is strongly needed. Recent studies point out that,5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), mainly found in the mammalian embryonic stem cells, nerve cells and brain cells , has been identified as an important factor that control epigenetic modification in the DNA demethylation. The goal of this project is to study the TET genes and 5hmC role in prostate cancer tumorigenesis and find novel bio-target of prostate cancer. First of all, we will study the expression level TET genes and 5hmC in prostate cancer, then we will use HydroxyMethyl-DNA immunoprecipitation (hMeDIP) combined with DNA Microarray technology to study benign prostate enlargement and prostate cancer cells to look for biomarkers that define their role in prostate cancer; and also study prostate cancer patients with different stage specimens. We perform quantitative study on TET genes and 5hmC in prostate cancer. Then used siRNA to knockdown TET genes and use the hMeDIP DNA microarray analysis to verify a new tumor biomarker. We hope this study will provide new biomaker(s) for prostate cancer staging, and to assess the possibility of develop in new clinical diagnosis tool.

Project ID:PC10008-0754
External Project ID:NSC100-2314-B182-056