Biomarkers for predicting prostate cancer progression

A method for monitoring progression of prostate cancer in a patient afflicted with prostate cancer, comprising

• (a) providing a first prostate tumor sample from the patient at a first time point;
• (b) providing a second prostate tumor sample from the patient at a second time point, which is later than the first time point;
• (c) detecting the levels of a C1GALT1 gene product and a galectin-4 gene product in the first and second samples;
• and
• (d) determining prostate cancer progression in the patient based on the levels of the C1GALT1 gene product and the galectin-4 gene product in the first and second samples, wherein an elevated level of both the C1GALT1 gene product and the galectin-4 gene product in the second sample as compared to that in the first sample is indicative of a higher risk for prostate cancer progression when compared to an elevated level of the C1GALT1 gene product alone or an elevated level of the galectin-4 gene product alone in the second sample as compared to that in the first sample.

A method for predicting survival of prostate cancer, comprising

• (i) providing a prostate tumor sample from a patient afflicted with prostate cancer;
• (ii) detecting a level of a core 1 beta-3-galactosyltransferase (C1GALT1) mRNA and a level of a galectin-4 mRNA in the prostate tumor sample using quantitative RT-PCR;
• (iii) comparing the detected level of the C1GALT1 mRNA with a reference level of C1GALT1 mRNA from a healthy prostate sample, and comparing the detected level of the galectin-4 mRNA with a reference level of galectin-4 mRNA from a healthy prostate sample;
• (iv) predicting survival of the patient based on the comparison, including predicting a relatively higher risk for poor survival of the patient if the detected level of C1GALT1 mRNA in the prostate tumor sample exceeds the reference level of C1GALT1 mRNA and the detected level of galectin-4 mRNA in the prostate tumor sample exceeds the reference level of galectin-4, and otherwise predicting a relatively lower risk for poor survival of the patient if the detected level of C1GALT1 mRNA in the prostate tumor sample exceeds the reference level of C1GALT1 mRNA but the detected level of galectin-4 mRNA in the prostate tumor sample does not exceed the reference level of galectin-4, the detected level of galectin-4 mRNA in the prostate tumor sample exceeds the reference level of galectin-4 mRNA but the detected level of C1GALT1 mRNA in the prostate tumor sample does not exceed the reference level of C1GALT1, or the detected level of C1GALT1 mRNA in the prostate tumor sample does not exceed the reference level of C1GALT1 mRNA and the detected level of galectin-4 mRNA in the prostate tumor sample does not exceed the reference level of galectin-4.