Anti-ELAC2 monoclonal antibody Made to order

Two polymorphisms in the newly cloned prostate cancer susceptibility gene, HPC2/ELAC2, are suspected to be associated with an increased risk of developing the disease, These missense variants result in a serine (S) to leucine (L) substitution at amino acid residue 217 and an alanine (A) to threonine (T) substitution at residue 541, We genotyped these polymorphisms in 257 multiplex prostate cancer sibships and in 355 race-matched healthy unrelated controls, A significant increase in the frequency of the T allele is seen In the prostate cancer subjects compared with controls. There is, however, little evidence for excess clustering of the T allele within the multiplex families known to be segregating this allele, and there is no evidence for linkage of prostate cancer to the HPC2/ELAC2 region of chromosome 17p11.2 in these families. The T allele shows no association with either Gleason score or age-of-onset in segregating families.

Background. HPC2/ELAC2 has been identified as a prostate cancer (PC) susceptibility gene. Ser- Leu changes at amino acid 217 have been one of the most studied variants of this gene. Several reports have shown association of this variant with PC in samples of men drawn from families with hereditary PC and even sporadic cases. Aim. This study aimed at assessing this association and the prevalence of the Ser217Leu variant of ELAC2 in populations of the Littoral Region of Cameroon. Method. 103 PC case subjects and 80 randomly selected controls identified from the study population participated in the study. 2 milliliters of blood samples was collected from each of the consented participants and used for human genomic DNA extraction and genotyping of the ELAC2 gene by the nonenzymatic salting out and PCR-RFLP methods, respectively. Results. The frequencies of the wild type (SS), heterozygous mutant (SL), and homozygous mutant (LL) genotypes were, respectively, 28.2%, 49.5%, and 22.3% in prostate cancer patients and 28.8%, 67.5%, and 3.7% in controls. Comparing the LL with SS and (SL+LL) with SS showed that the presence of two copies of the L allele confers a high risk of prostate cancer as compared to the presence of only one L allele which presents no risk of prostate cancer (OR = 6.080 and 1.030, respectively). Analysis of our results also suggested an association (P = 0.0012) of the Ser217Leu variant with increased risk of prostate cancer. Conclusion. Alterations in the ELAC2 gene contribute to prostate cancer susceptibility in men living in the Littoral Region of Cameroon.