The recurrent gene fusion event in prostate cancer involves an androgen controlled gene, TMPRSS2, and members (ERG, ETV1 and ETV4) of the ETS transcription factor family (2, 5, 6) . Among these fusion genes, TMPRSS2:ERG is the most prevalent and the only member detected in the majority of reports. This fusion transcript results from $3 Mb interstitial deletion between these two loci at chromosome 21q22. It was found in approximately half (15-78%) of all prostate cancers (2, (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) . As an androgen-related transcription factor controlling cell proliferation, TMPRSS2:ERG has been associated with disease pathogenesis and is a promising biomarker for prostate cancer progression, prognostication and early detection (18) (19) (20) (21) . While the presence of TMPRSS2:ETS fusion genes is highly prostate cancerspecific, its significance as a prognostic biomarker is still controversial partly because many of the clinical studies have been relatively small scale. Therefore, it is important to develop a simple and robust assay for identifying various TMPRSS2:ETS and potential fusion genes in other solid tumors. However, this could be challenging due to high heterogeneity in prostate cancer and other solid tumors, compared to leukemias and lymphomas (22) .