Race-related Alternative Splicing: Novel Targets in Prostate Cancer

Data from evaluating prostate cancer (PCa) biopsy tissue from AA and white patients has led to the discovery of alternative splicing as a novel molecular mechanism underlying more aggressive PCa in AA men. Coded archival radical prostatectomy tissue specimens and annotated clinical data, questionnaire data, and ancestral genotyping data will be obtained from the racially diverse and federally funded North Carolina-Louisiana PCa Project (NC-LA PCaP). We will use 33 tissue specimens from each of the following 6 groups (n=198 total): white low aggressive, white intermediate aggressive, white high aggressive, AA low aggressive, AA intermediate aggressive and AA high aggressive. The aforementioned tissues will first be screened for tumor content and Gleason grade by a genitourinary pathologist. To identify race-related splice variants, RNA will be isolated for targeted sequencing of prioritized race-related alternatively spliced genes using the NimbleGen SeqCap Target Enrichment, SeqCap RNA System to capture regions of interest and the Illumina HiSeq sequencing platform to sequence these regions at a depth and coverage sufficient to accurately call alternative splicing events.