Expression and Function of ETS Genes in Prostate Cancer

Abstract

__Abstract__ Prostate cancer is a heterogeneous disease that is very common in elderly men in developed countries. Understanding the molecular and biological processes that contribute to tumor development and progressive growth is a challenging task. The fusion of the genes ERG and TMPRSS2 is the most frequent genomic alteration in prostate cancer. ERG is an oncogene that belongs to the family of ETS transcription factors. At lower frequency other members of this gene family are rearranged and overexpressed in prostate cancer. TMPRSS2 is an androgen-regulated gene that is preferentially expressed in the prostate. Most other ETS fusion partners are similarly regulated and prostate specific.