Endocrine Abstracts

Understanding the mechanisms that underly prostate cancer initiation and progression requires a comprehensive annotation of the cancer genome. While most research has focused on protein coding genes, there is increasing basic and clinical evidence that the much larger non-coding genome plays a critical role in prostate cancer tumourigenesis. The non-coding genome harbours numerous functional elements that regulate the expression of all protein-coding genes, including oncogenes and tumour suppressor. Genetic alterations to these regulatory elements can drive tumour development, progression, and response to therapy. The development and adaptation of functional genomic methodologies has allowed us to begin to annotate the non-coding genome and characterize the impact on gene expression in prostate cancer. By looking beyond only protein coding genes to the DNA that controls expression, we can gain a better understanding of how prostate cancer arises and how to effectively treat this lethal disease.