1 To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at the Office of Cancer Genomics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, 31 Center Drive, MSC 2590, Building 31, Room 11A03, Bethesda, MD 20892, Phone: (301) 496-1550, Fax: (301) 435-6227.
2Mathematical and Statistical Computing Laboratory, Center for Information Technology, National Institutes of Health, Building 12A, Room 2041, Bethesda, MD 20892.
3Department of Molecular Biotechnology, University of Washington, 1959 Northeast Pacific Street, K360, Box 357730, Seattle, WA 98195
The identification, acquisition, and assessment of molecular markers that could be adopted as surrogate endpoints for evaluating a response to prostate cancer intervention strategies is highly desirable. Recent advances in the fields of genomics and biotechnology have dramatically increased the quantity and accessibility of molecular information that is relevant to the study of prostate carcinogenesis. One major advance involves the construction of comprehensive sequence databases that archive gene sequences and gene expression data. The information is in a format suitable for virtual queries designed to distinguigh the molecular differences between normal and cancer cells. A second major advance employs robotic tools to construct microarrays comprised of thousands of distinct genes expressed in prostate tissues. Such arrays offer a powerful approach for monitoring the expression of thousands of genes simultaneously, and to provide access for approaches designed to assess patterns of fingerprints of gene expression that may ultimately be used as signatures of response to therapeutic intervention.