Patent ID: 8541169

Claim:
A method of detecting an increased risk of prostate cancer in a human subject, comprising; (a) measuring the expression level of , ERG Prostate Cancer-specific isoform 1 (EPCI) or ERG Prostate Cancer-specific isoform 2(EPC2) in a nucleic acid sample isolated from prostate epithelial cells from the subject, wherein measuring the expression level of EPC1 or EPC2 comprises: (i) combining the nucleic acid sample with at least a first and a second oligonucleotide primer under hybridizing conditions, wherein the first and the second oligonucleotide primer are capable of amplifying (1) an EPC1 target sequence that selectively hybridizes to EPC1 (SEQ ID NO:3) but does not hybridize to ERG1, ERG2, ERG3, ERG4, ERG5, ERG6, ERG7, ERG8, ERG9, or EPC2(SEQ ID NO:5) under high stringency hybridization conditions, or (2)an EPC2 target sequence that selectively hybridizes to EPC2 (SEQ ID NO:5) but does not hybridize to ERG1, ERG2, ERG3, ERG4, ERG5, ERG6, ERG7, ERG8, ERG9, or EPC1 (SEQ ID NO:3) under high stringency hybridization conditions, wherein the EPC1 target sequence comprises all or part of nucleotides 788 to 1019 of SEQ ID NO:3 or the EPC2 target sequence comprises all or part of nucleotides 127 to 807 of SEQ ID NO:5; (ii) amplifying a plurality of amplification the EPC1 or EPC2 target sequence is present in the nucleic acid sample by adding at least one poly erase activity to the biological sample containing the first and second oligonucleotide primers; (iii) immobilizing the plurality of amplification products; (iv) combining an oligonucleotide probe with the immobilized plurality of amplification prod cts to thereby permit the probe to hybridize to at least one immobilized amplification product; and (v) detecting whether a signal results from hybridization between the (b) comparing the expression level of EPC1 or EPC2 in the nucleic acid sample to the expression level of EPC1 or EPC2 in a control sample comprising prostate epithelial cells or to a threshold value; and (c) correlating the expression level of EPC1 or EPC2 in the nucleic acid sample to the increased risk of prostate cancer in the subject, wherein increased expression levels of EPC1 or EPC2 in the nucleic acid sample as compared to the control sample or the threshold value indicate the increased risk of prostate cancer.