Prostate cancer is the leading cancer in incidence and second leading cause of cancer mortality in US men. African American men have significantly higher incidence and mortality rates from prostate cancer than European American men. Previous studies reported that the disparity in prostate cancer survival or mortality can be explained by different biological backgrounds. microRNAs (miRNAs) regulate gene expression of their cognate mRNAs in many cancers. Therefore, miRNAs may be a potentially promising diagnostic tool. The role of miRNAs in prostate cancer aggressiveness and racial disparity has not been fully established. The goal of this study is to identify miRNAs associated with aggressiveness and racial disparity in prostate cancer. Here we report miRNAs that are associated with tumor status and aggressiveness in prostate cancer using a profiling approach. Further, downregulated miRNAs in African American tissues were confirmed by qRT-PCR. These miRNAs have also been shown to negatively regulate the expression of the androgen receptor in prostate cancer cells. This report provides a novel insight into understanding tumor aggressiveness and racial disparities of prostate cancer.
Cancers. 2023 Apr 17*** epublish ***
Richard Ottman, Kavya Ganapathy, Hui-Yi Lin, Carlos Diaz Osterman, Julie Dutil, Jaime Matta, Gilberto Ruiz-Deya, Liang Wang, Kosj Yamoah, Anders Berglund, Ratna Chakrabarti, Jong Y Park
Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA., Biostatistics Program, School of Public Health, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA., Department of Basic Sciences, Ponce Research Institute, School of Medicine, Ponce Health Sciences University, Ponce, PR 00716, USA., Department of Tumor Biology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL 33612, USA., Department of Radiation Oncology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL 33612, USA., Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL 33612, USA., Department of Cancer Epidemiology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL 33612, USA.