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Mechanisms for germline risk variants in predisposing prostate cancer and the application to personalized medicine

Principal Investigator

Name
Kun Zhang

Degrees
Ph.D.

Institution
Xavier Univ. of Louisiana

Position Title
Bioinformatics Core, Xavier RCMI Center for Cancer Research

Email
kzhang@xula.edu

About this CDAS Project

Study
PLCO (Learn more about this study)

Project ID
PLCO-481

Initial CDAS Request Approval
May 21, 2019

Title
Mechanisms for germline risk variants in predisposing prostate cancer and the application to personalized medicine

Summary
Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most commonly diagnosed non-skin cancer and the second leading cause of cancer mortality in American men. While the major body of tumor drivers in this cancer type is constituted of somatic mutations, it has been demonstrated that germline genetic variants can explain up to one-third of the disease phenotype variance among men in terms of incidence. The overall objective of this project is to improve understanding of the mechanisms for germline risk variants in predisposing PCa and the application in personalized medicine. Study design: We will integrate the genotype and clinical data of the tumor samples in large cohorts generated by several national/global research projects, such as PLCO (Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial), with the somatic mutation and methylation data generated/collected by the TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) and COSMIC (Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer) to achieve our research goal.

Aims

Aim 1 Investigate the interactions between pathogenic DNA polymorphisms, somatic mutations and abnormal epigenetic alterations in the formation and progression of prostate tumors.
Aim 2 Identify complex diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers which integrate genetic, epigenetic and transcriptomic signatures with metrics of prostate specific antigent (PSA).

Collaborators

Wensheng Zhang, Xavier Univ. of Louisiana
Yan Dong, Tulane University

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