Wantroba, "Infrequent androgen receptor mutations in primary prostate tumors from men residing in Singapore and Los Angeles," 2005

Marcus Allan Wantroba, M.S.

Abstract (Summary)
We performed case-only studies of African-American, Latino, and Chinese men in order to: (i) Assess the frequency of androgen receptor (AR) somatic mutations in prostate tumors from who have not received androgen ablation therapy and: (ii) Investigate the associations between AR-CAG repeat length and tumor characteristics. Additionally, we performed a case-control analysis to estimate PCa risk associated with PCa and AR-CAG repeat length in Chinese men. AR mutations occurred extremely infrequently in primary tumors from men who have not undergone androgen ablation therapy, which indicates limited etiological role. However, significant associations were obtained between AR-CAG repeat lengths and Gleason Grade, as well as age at diagnosis, in African-American and Latino men. No significant association between AR-CAG repeat length and disease risk in Chinese men was observed. We conclude that although germline AR-CAG variation is involved in PCa progression, somatic mutations in the AR play virtually no role in untreated PCa.

Advisor: Coetzee, Gerhard