Biospecimen collection, processing, and analysis: new challenges for oncology nurses.

Objectives: To provide an overview of emerging applications for and challenges associated with biospecimen collection for evaluating personalized disease risk and/or treatment response in cancer clinical trials.

Data Sources: Published nursing and medical literature.

Conclusion: Blood- and tissue-based biomarkers are increasingly utilized to identify the molecular signatures of disease that can inform the determination of a course of treatment in a very precise manner.

Unique substitution of CHEK2 and TP53 mutations implicated in primary prostate tumors and cancer cell lines.

Genetic defects in CHEK2 and TP53 have been implicated in prostate cancer development. However, the interaction of these two genes in prostate cancer tumorigenesis has not been investigated. We previously described 11 CHEK2 mutations in a group of 84 primary prostate tumors.

PDLIM4 repression by hypermethylation as a potential biomarker for prostate cancer.

Purpose: We analyzed the expression of genes to identify reliable molecular markers in the diagnosis and progression of prostate cancer.

Experimental Design: Gene expression profiling was done using HG-U133 set microarrays in 32 prostate cancer and 8 benign tissues of patients with cancer. Expression levels of 11 genes were selected for quantitative real-time PCR evaluation in 52 prostate cancer and 20 benign tissues.

Phyllodes tumor of the prostate: long-term followup study of 23 cases.

Purpose: Phyllodes tumor of the prostate is a rare neoplasm of uncertain malignant potential. We studied a large series of phyllodes tumors to define the combination of histological features that are most useful for predicting patient outcome.

Materials And Methods: A total of 23 cases were obtained from our collective files from 1973 to 2002, and numerous clinical and pathological features were evaluated.