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Dr. Sterbis Receives BKA Award
MAJ Joseph Sterbis, a Urology resident, was awarded 1st Place for his study titled “Tissue PSA mRNA as a Predictor of Biochemical Recurrence-Free Survival Following Radical Prostatectomy."
June 19, 2008
The Department of Clinical Investigation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center recently held the 34th annual Bailey K. Ashford Basic Science Research Award and Symposium on May 1st 2008. The BKA award is presented annually to the graduating trainee who has contributed the most significant research to the clinical investigation program during their years of training at WRAMC. Nominees must have made a prime contribution to the intellectual and organizational development of the research, and the research must have been received the right institutional review.
In the area of Laboratory Research, MAJ Joseph Sterbis, a Urology resident, was awarded 1st Place for his study titled “Tissue PSA mRNA as a Predictor of Biochemical Recurrence-Free Survival Following Radical Prostatectomy." "While most investigations of PSA in prostate cancer have focused on serum or tissue protein measurements, tissue PSA mRNA expression has not been extensively studied," Sterbis said.
He studied "real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and laser-capture micro dissection in order to quantitatively assess tissue PSA mRNA expression in benign and malignant prostate epithelium. Laser-capture micro dissection identified benign and malignant epithelial cells in frozen prostate specimens from 121 patients following radical prostatectomy. Expression of tissue PSA mRNA was determined by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. PSA expression within malignant cells was compared with matched benign cells and serum PSA, Gleason score, pathologic tumor stage and biochemical survival. Regression tree analysis delineated high and low tumor PSA expression groups, which were compared to androgen-dependent and androgen-independent gene expression within tumor cells."
Sterbis concluded that "independent of serum PSA, decreased neoplastic tissue PSA expression predicts greater odds of biochemical recurrence and may represent changes in the androgen-signaling pathway."
Editor's note: Information in this article was provided by Walter Reed's Department of Clinical Investigation.
The CPDR mission is fulfilled primarily through its three principal programs – the Clinical Research Center, the Basic Science Research Program and the National Multicenter Prostate Cancer Database– and through a robust education and training program that operates out of its Headquarters location, the Clinical Research Center, and the original laboratories at USUHS. CPDR is also committed to patient outreach, primarily through its affiliation with the WRAMC US TOO! organization and through a heavy schedule of health fairs in which it participates.
