Method for determining cancer prognosis and prediction with cancer stem cell associated genes

A method of formulating a diagnostic/prognostic test for cancer, wherein said diagnostic/prognostic test having the values of a predetermined set of CSC-associate gene(s) as its parameters, said method comprising:

• making a diagnosis/prognosis determination on a test data set of CSC-associate gene(s) expression levels, wherein said data set having a plurality of control and comparison data points, said determination is based on an initial set of cutoff values for the expression levels;
• generating a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve by varying the cutoff values;
• selecting an optimal point along the ROC curve;
• and
• choosing the cutoff values corresponding to the optimal point as the final values for the diagnostic/prognostic test.

A method of cancer prognosis or prediction in a test subject, the method comprising:

• providing a tissue sample from the test subject, the tissue sample comprising a population of cancer cells;
• measuring an expression level of at least one cancer stem cell associated (CSC-associated) gene in the tissue sample;
• applying the test formed by method 1 or 12 to the expression level;
• and
• based on the result of the test, identifying the test subject as either likely or unlikely to experience a clinical response.

A method for predicting the likelihood of recurrence of prostate cancer following prostatectomy in a test subject, the method comprising:

• providing a tissue sample from the test subject, the tissue sample comprising a population of prostate cancer cells;
• measuring an expression level of at least one cancer stem cell associated (CSC-associated) gene in the tissue sample;
• comparing the expression level by comparing the expression level of the at least one CSC-associated gene measured in the test sample to a reference expression level having derived from a cohort of patients who have not experienced recurrence of prostate cancer following prostatectomy;
• and
• identifying the test subject as either likely to experience a recurrence of prostate cancer based on the comparison.