Somatic mosaicism and cancer: A micro-genetic examination into the role of the androgen receptor gene in prostate cancer

Recent evidence has shown that the androgen receptor (AR) plays a major role in all prostate cancer stages, including both androgen-dependent and -independent tumors. A large number of studies have examined the possible effects of a functional polymorphism in the AR gene, a variable-length CAG repeat, on the development of prostate cancer, but the results to date have been inconclusive. We have considered the fact that the tissue heterogeneity present in almost all prostate cancer tumors has rarely been regarded as an indicator of AR genetic heterogeneity. To determine if genetic heterogeneity exists and is a significant event in prostate cancer development, we have examined prostate cancer tumors for somatic shortening of the AR gene CAG repeat. All 72 laser capture microdissected samples from archival prostate cancer tissues, as well as samples from freshly prepared prostate cancer tissues, showed some genetic heterogeneity (somatic mosaicism) for AR CAG repeat length. Cancerous tissues showed a much greater degree of genetic heterogeneity than adjacent benign tissues, as well as a very significant shortening of their CAG repeat lengths. However, CAG repeat length heterogeneity was not observed in normal prostate tissues. It is hypothesized that somatic mosaicism of the AR CAG repeat in prostate cancer tumors may be found to be an important genetic event in precancerous tissue, which may subsequently lead to the development of prostate cancer.