The Role of Central Metabolism in Prostate Cancer Progression

As part of a three-PI team for this synergy grant, our goal is to 1. To identify differentially expressed proteins and phosphoproteins in prostate cancer cells from patients on high -3 and control diets. 2. To examine the effects of the -3 diet on apoptosis and cell proliferation. 3. To assess the effect of the -3 rich diet on prostate tumors as well as PUFA pathways by measuring absolute and relative changes in known serum and prostate biomarkers. Due to a delay in local IRB approval, we were unable to start the clinical trials in this reporting period. However, we have successfully established a data repository and data sharing site in Proteome Commons and a graduate student who is taking on this project as her Ph.D. dissertation project has acquired sufficient training in both proteomics and molecular biology. A proteomic study using PC-3 cell line comparing -3 treated and non-treated cells is in progress. In the meantime, we are also evaluating IMAC vs. TiO2 method for phosphoprotein enrichment. It is our hope that we will be able to start analyzing the clinical serumplasma samples within the next three months and finish the global expression proteomics part of the project within the next six months.