title: Genome-wide investigation of multifocal and unifocal prostate cancer-are they genetically different?
abstract: Prostate cancer is widely observed to be biologically heterogeneous. Its heterogeneity is manifested histologically as multifocal prostate cancer, which is observed more frequently than unifocal prostate cancer. The clinical and prognostic significance of either focal cancer type is not fully established. To investigate prostate cancer heterogeneity, the genetic profiles of multifocal and unifocal prostate cancers were compared. Here, we report observations deduced from tumor-tumor comparison of copy number alteration data of both focal categories. Forty-one fresh frozen prostate cancer foci from 14 multifocal prostate cancers and eight unifocal prostate cancers were subjected to copy number variation analysis with the Affymetrix SNP 6.0 microarray tool. With the investigated cases, tumors obtained from a single prostate exhibited different genetic profiles of variable degrees. Further comparison identified no distinct genetic pattern or signatures specific to multifocal or unifocal prostate cancer. Our findings suggest that samples obtained from multiple sites of a single unifocal prostate cancer show as much genetic heterogeneity and variability as separate tumors obtained from a single multifocal prostate cancer.
authors.affiliation: Prostate Center, Department of Urology, University Hospital Muenster, Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, Gebaeude 1A, Muenster D-48149, Germany. Axel.Semjonow@ukmuenster.de.
authors.forename: Chinyere
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ibeawuchi
authors.forename: Hartmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Voss
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Titze
authors.forename: Mahmoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abbas
authors.forename: Joerg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Neumann
authors.forename: Elke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Eltze
authors.forename: Agnes Marije
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Hoogland
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jenster
authors.forename: Burkhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Brandt
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Semjonow
mesh_terms: D002877:Chromosomes, Human / Q000235:genetics; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D056915:DNA Copy Number Variations / Q000235:genetics; D052138:Genes, Neoplasm; D018740:Genetic Heterogeneity; D015894:Genome, Human; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*