| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
-Methylacyl-CoA Racemase Using Automated Quantitative Analysis (AQUA)






From the Department of Pathology,*Brigham and Womens Hospital, and the Harvard Medical School,
Boston, Massachusetts; the Department of Pathology,
Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut; the Departments of Urology and Pathology,¶University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan; and the Department of Urology,
University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany
Despite years of discovery and attempts at validation, few molecular biomarkers achieve acceptance in the clinical setting. Tissue-based markers evaluated by immunohistochemistry suffer from a high degree of inter- and intraobserver variability. One recent advance in this field that promises to automate this process is the development of AQUA, a molecular-based method of quantitative assessment of protein expression. This system integrates a set of algorithms that allows for the rapid, automated, continuous, and quantitative analysis of tissue samples, including the separation of tumor from stromal elements and the subcellular localization of signals. This study uses the AQUA system to assess a recently described prostate cancer biomarker,
-methylacyl-CoA-racemase (AMACR), and to determine the effectiveness of the quantitative measurement of this marker as a means for making the diagnosis of prostate cancer. Using a prostate cancer progression tissue microarray containing a wide range of prostate tissues, AQUA was directly compared to standard immunohistochemical evaluation for AMACR protein expression using the p504s monoclonal antibody. Both methods produced similar results showing AMACR protein expression to be strongest in the clinically localized prostate cancer, followed by the metastatic tumor samples. Benign prostate tissue was categorized as negative for most tissue samples by immunohistochemistry. However, AMACR was detectable using the AQUA system at low levels using the standard 1:25 dilution but also at 1:250 dilution, which is not detectable by light microscopy. The AQUA system was also able to discriminate foamy gland prostate cancers, which are known to have a lower AMACR expression than typical acinar prostate cancers, from benign prostate tissue samples. Finally, a receiver-operating-characteristic curve was plotted to determine the specificity of the AMACR AQUA Z-score (normalized AQUA score) to predict that a given tissue microarray sample contains cancer. The area under the curve was calculated at 0.90 (P < 0.00001; 95% CI, 0.84 to 0.95). At an AMACR AQUA Z-score score of -0.3, 91% of the 70 samples classified as prostate cancer were correctly categorized without the intervention of a pathologist reviewing the tissue microarray slide. In conclusion, the AQUA system provides a continuous measurement of AMACR on a wide range of prostate tissue samples. In the future, the AMACR AQUA Z-score may be useful in the automated screening and evaluation of prostate tissue biomarkers.
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
J. Kim, W. J. Jahng, D. Di Vizio, J. S. Lee, R. Jhaveri, M. A. Rubin, A. Shisheva, and M. R. Freeman The Phosphoinositide Kinase PIKfyve Mediates Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Trafficking to the Nucleus Cancer Res., October 1, 2007; 67(19): 9229 - 9237. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. M. Giltnane, L. Ryden, M. Cregger, P.-O. Bendahl, K. Jirstrom, and D. L. Rimm Quantitative Measurement of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Is a Negative Predictive Factor for Tamoxifen Response in Hormone Receptor Positive Premenopausal Breast Cancer J. Clin. Oncol., July 20, 2007; 25(21): 3007 - 3014. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
D. Huang, G. P. Casale, J. Tian, N. K. Wehbi, N. A. Abrahams, Z. Kaleem, L. M. Smith, S. L. Johansson, J. E. Elkahwaji, and G. P. Hemstreet III Quantitative Fluorescence Imaging Analysis for Cancer Biomarker Discovery: Application to {beta}-Catenin in Archived Prostate Specimens Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev., July 1, 2007; 16(7): 1371 - 1381. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. Dolled-Filhart, L. Ryden, M. Cregger, K. Jirstrom, M. Harigopal, R. L. Camp, and D. L. Rimm Classification of breast cancer using genetic algorithms and tissue microarrays. Clin. Cancer Res., November 1, 2006; 12(21): 6459 - 6468. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
F. Bertucci, D. Birnbaum, and A. Goncalves Proteomics of Breast Cancer: Principles and Potential Clinical Applications Mol. Cell. Proteomics, October 1, 2006; 5(10): 1772 - 1786. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. M. McCarthy, K. A. DiVito, M. Sznol, D. Kovacs, R. Halaban, A. J. Berger, K. T. Flaherty, R. L. Camp, R. Lazova, D. L. Rimm, et al. Expression of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand receptors 1 and 2 in melanoma. Clin. Cancer Res., June 15, 2006; 12(12): 3856 - 3863. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S. F. Siddiqui, J. Pawelek, T. Handerson, C.-Y. Lin, R. B. Dickson, D. L. Rimm, and R. L. Camp Coexpression of {beta}1,6-N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferase V Glycoprotein Substrates Defines Aggressive Breast Cancers with Poor Outcome Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev., November 1, 2005; 14(11): 2517 - 2523. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
R. C. Bast Jr., H. Lilja, N. Urban, D. L. Rimm, H. Fritsche, J. Gray, R. Veltri, G. Klee, A. Allen, N. Kim, et al. Translational Crossroads for Biomarkers Clin. Cancer Res., September 1, 2005; 11(17): 6103 - 6108. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. Psyrri, Z. Yu, P. M. Weinberger, C. Sasaki, B. Haffty, R. Camp, D. Rimm, and B. A. Burtness Quantitative Determination of Nuclear and Cytoplasmic Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Expression in Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Cancer by Using Automated Quantitative Analysis Clin. Cancer Res., August 15, 2005; 11(16): 5856 - 5862. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. M. McCarthy, M. Sznol, K. A. DiVito, R. L. Camp, D. L. Rimm, and H. M. Kluger Evaluating the Expression and Prognostic Value of TRAIL-R1 and TRAIL-R2 in Breast Cancer Clin. Cancer Res., July 15, 2005; 11(14): 5188 - 5194. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
H. M. Kluger, D. Chelouche Lev, Y. Kluger, M. M. McCarthy, G. Kiriakova, R. L. Camp, D. L. Rimm, and J. E. Price Using a Xenograft Model of Human Breast Cancer Metastasis to Find Genes Associated with Clinically Aggressive Disease Cancer Res., July 1, 2005; 65(13): 5578 - 5587. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. A. Rubin, T. A. Bismar, O. Andren, L. Mucci, R. Kim, R. Shen, D. Ghosh, J. T. Wei, A. M. Chinnaiyan, H.-O. Adami, et al. Decreased {alpha}-Methylacyl CoA Racemase Expression in Localized Prostate Cancer is Associated with an Increased Rate of Biochemical Recurrence and Cancer-Specific Death Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev., June 1, 2005; 14(6): 1424 - 1432. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. Harigopal, A. J. Berger, R. L. Camp, D. L. Rimm, and H. M. Kluger Automated Quantitative Analysis of E-Cadherin Expression in Lymph Node Metastases Is Predictive of Survival in Invasive Ductal Breast Cancer Clin. Cancer Res., June 1, 2005; 11(11): 4083 - 4089. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L. True and Z. Feng Immunohistochemical Validation of Expression Microarray Results J. Mol. Diagn., May 1, 2005; 7(2): 149 - 151. [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. J. Berger, R. L. Camp, K. A. DiVito, H. M. Kluger, R. Halaban, and D. L. Rimm Automated Quantitative Analysis of HDM2 Expression in Malignant Melanoma Shows Association with Early-Stage Disease and Improved Outcome Cancer Res., December 1, 2004; 64(23): 8767 - 8772. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
K. A. DiVito, A. J. Berger, R. L. Camp, M. Dolled-Filhart, D. L. Rimm, and H. M. Kluger Automated Quantitative Analysis of Tissue Microarrays Reveals an Association between High Bcl-2 Expression and Improved Outcome in Melanoma Cancer Res., December 1, 2004; 64(23): 8773 - 8777. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L. D. True, K. Swisshelm, B. Streubel, O. Wagner, and A. Chott Endothelial Cells in B-Cell Lymphomas N. Engl. J. Med., November 4, 2004; 351(19): 2019 - 2019. [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L. Lan, S. Nakajima, Y. Oohata, M. Takao, S. Okano, M. Masutani, S. H. Wilson, and A. Yasui In situ analysis of repair processes for oxidative DNA damage in mammalian cells PNAS, September 21, 2004; 101(38): 13738 - 13743. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. A. Rubin, S. Varambally, R. Beroukhim, S. A. Tomlins, D. R. Rhodes, P. L. Paris, M. D. Hofer, M. Storz-Schweizer, R. Kuefer, J. A. Fletcher, et al. Overexpression, Amplification, and Androgen Regulation of TPD52 in Prostate Cancer Cancer Res., June 1, 2004; 64(11): 3814 - 3822. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |