Bay Biosciences provides surgically resected  tumor samples with matched serum, plasma and PBMC samples from unique patients diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Moreover, detailed clinical data and pathology annotations associated with the samples is provided to a valued pharmaceutical customer for research.

What is Prostate Cancer?

Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate gland. Specifically, the prostate is a small walnut-shaped gland in the pelvis of men. Moreover, it is located next to the bladder and can be examined by getting a digital rectal exam.

Notably, prostate cancer is the second most frequent malignancy (after lung cancer) in men worldwide. In addition, prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths for men in the United States. Consequently, about 1 in 9 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime.

Furthermore, prostate cancer cells spread by breaking away from a primary prostate tumor. Subsequently, these cancer cells travel through blood vessels or lymph nodes to reach other parts of the body.

After spreading, cancer cells may attach to other tissues and grow to form new tumors. Thereby causing damage where they land.

Importantly, the spread of prostate cancer from its original place to other parts of the body is called metastasis. Indeed, the new tumor has the same kind of abnormal cells and the same name as the primary (original) tumor.

Prostate Gland

The prostate is a walnut-sized gland located behind the base of the penis. In front of the rectum, and below the bladder. Specifically, it surrounds the urethra, the tube-like channel that carries urine and semen through the penis.

Moreover, the prostate’s main function is to make seminal fluid, the liquid in semen that protects, supports, and helps transport sperm. As a result, the prostate continues to enlarge as people age.

Consequently, this can lead to a condition called benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH), which is when the urethra becomes blocked.

Furthermore, BPH is a common condition that people associate with growing older, and researchers have not linked it to a greater risk of having prostate cancer.

Prostate Cancer Overview

Prostate cancer is somewhat unusual when compared with other types of cancer. This is because, in contrast to many other cancers, many prostate tumors do not spread quickly to other parts of the body. Additionally, some prostate cancers grow very slowly and may not cause symptoms or problems for years or ever.

Furthermore, even when prostate cancer has spread to other parts of the body, it often can be managed for a long time. As a result, patients with prostate cancer, and even those with advanced prostate cancer, may live with good health and quality of life for many years.

However, if existing treatments cannot well control the cancer, it can consequently cause symptoms like pain and fatigue and can sometimes lead to death. Moreover, histology is how cancer cells look under a microscope. Specifically, the most common histology found in prostate cancer is called adenocarcinoma.

In addition, other, less common histologic types include neuroendocrine prostate cancer and small cell prostate cancer. Notably, these rare variants tend to be more aggressive, produce much less PSA, and spread outside the prostate earlier.

Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA)

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a protein that cells in the prostate gland produce and release into the bloodstream. Consequently, doctors measure PSA levels using a blood test. Furthermore, although there is no such thing as a “normal PSA” for anyone at any given age, people with prostate cancer can have a higher-than-normal level of PSA.

In addition, other non-cancerous prostate conditions, such as benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) or prostatitis, can also lead to an elevated PSA level. Specifically, prostatitis is the inflammation or infection of the prostate. Moreover, some activities like ejaculation can temporarily increase PSA levels.

Therefore, avoid ejaculations before a PSA test to prevent falsely elevated tests. Ultimately, discuss the pros and cons of PSA testing with your primary care doctor before using it to screen for prostate cancer.

Prostate Cancer Gleason Score

The Gleason scoring system is, in fact, the most common prostate cancer grading system used. Specifically, the pathologist looks at how the cancer cells are arranged in the prostate and, consequently, assigns a score on a scale of 3 to 5 from 2 different locations.

Notably, cancer cells that look similar to healthy cells receive a low score. In contrast, cancer cells that look less like healthy cells or look more aggressive receive a higher score. To assign the numbers, the pathologist first determines the main pattern of cell growth, which is the area where the cancer is most obvious, and then looks for another area of growth.

Afterward, the doctor then gives each area a score from 3 to 5. Following this, the doctor adds the scores together to come up with an overall score between 6 and 10. Importantly, doctors do not use Gleason scores of 5 or lower. In fact, the lowest Gleason score is 6, which represents a low-grade cancer.

Meanwhile, a Gleason score of 7 indicates a medium-grade cancer, and scores of 8, 9, or 10 indicate a high-grade cancer. Ultimately, a lower-grade cancer grows more slowly and is less likely to spread than a high-grade cancer.

Signs and Symptoms of Prostate Cancer

Following are the common signs and symptoms of prostate cancer:

  • Frequent urination (overactive bladder)
  • Weak or interrupted urine flow or the need to strain to empty the bladder
  • Pain or burning during urination
  • The urge to urinate frequently at night (nocturia)
  • Blood in the urine (hematuria)
  • Erectile dysfunction
  • Pain or discomfort when sitting, caused by an enlarged prostate

If cancer has spread outside of the prostate gland, symptoms may include:

  • Firstly, pain in the back, hips, thighs, shoulders, or other bones
  • Secondly, swelling or fluid buildup in the legs or feet
  • Moreover, unexplained weight loss
  • Furthermore, fatigue
  • Finally, change in bowel movements

Risk Factors of Prostate Cancer

Certain men are at higher risk than others for developing prostate cancer; consequently, this may affect when they should start being screened. The risk of developing prostate cancer increases with age, particularly after age 50. Moreover, following are some of the risk factors for developing prostate cancer:

  • African American men are twice as likely as Caucasian white men to develop the disease.
  • Additionally, having a family history of prostate cancer significantly increases the risk of developing prostate cancer. For instance, a father or a brother diagnosed with prostate cancer, particularly if he is at a relatively early age, increases the risk of developing prostate cancer.
  • Furthermore, other risk factors include a high-fat diet and/or obesity, smoking, and a sedentary lifestyle.

However, measures may exist to aid in the prevention of prostate cancer; thus, they can reduce risk, including regular exercise and diets low in fat and high in fruits, vegetables, and whole fibers. In fact, foods with high amounts of the antioxidant lycopene, such as tomatoes, grapefruit, and watermelon, may help to lower the risk of developing prostate cancer.

Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer Diagnosis

Prostate cancer diagnosis starts with the following screening tests:

  • Firstly, digital rectal examination (DRE): Doctor inserts a lubricated gloved finger into the rectum to check for lumps on the prostate.
  • In addition, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test: a blood sample is analyzed for levels of a protein produced by the prostate that, when elevated, can indicate the presence of cancer.
  • Furthermore, new urinary (PCA3 and MDx Select) and blood (4K score and PHI test) biomarkers are also used at times to screen for prostate cancer in men considered to be at-risk for the diagnosis.

Genetics

Genes that may carry an increased risk of developing prostate cancer include the following:

 HPC1, HPC2, HPCX, CAPB, ATM, FANCA, HOXB13,  and mismatch repair genes. However, none of them has been directly shown to cause prostate cancer or be specific to the disease. Furthermore, research to identify genes associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer is ongoing, and researchers are constantly learning more about how specific genetic changes can influence the development of prostate cancer. At present, there are no genetic tests available to determine someone’s chance of developing prostate cancer.

Biospecimens

biospecimens

Bay Biosciences is a global leader in providing researchers with high quality, clinical grade, fully characterized human tissue samples, bio-specimens, and human bio-fluid collections.

Human biospecimens are available including cancer (tumor) tissue, cancer serum, cancer plasma, cancer peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). and human tissue samples from most other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Bay Biosciences maintains and manages its own biorepository, the human tissue bank (biobank) consisting of thousands of diseased samples (specimens) and from normal healthy donors for controls, available in all formats and types.

In fact, our biobank procures and stores fully consented, de-identified and institutional review boards (IRB) approved human tissue samples, human biofluids such as serum samples, plasma samples from various diseases and matched controls.

Also, all our human tissue collections, human biospecimens and human biofluids are provided with detailed, samples associated patient’s clinical data.

In fact, this critical patient’s clinical data includes information relating to their past and current disease, treatment history, lifestyle choices, biomarkers, and genetic information.

Additionally, researchers find the patient’s data associated with the human biospecimens extremely valuable and use it to help identify new effective treatments (drug discovery & development) in oncology, as well as in other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Bay Biosciences banks wide variety of human tissue samples and human biological samples, including fresh frozen human biospecimens cryogenically preserved at – 80°C.

For example fresh frozen tissue samples, tumor tissue samples, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE), tissue slides, with matching human bio-fluids, whole blood and blood-derived products such as human serum, human plasma and human PBMCs.

Bay Biosciences is a global leader in collecting and providing human tissue samples according to the specified requirements and customized, tailor-made collection protocols.

Please contact us anytime to discuss your special research projects and customized human tissue sample requirements.

Types of Biospecimens

Bay Biosciences provides human tissue samples (human specimens) and human biofluids from diseased and normal healthy donors which includes:

Moreover, we can also procure most human biospecimens and human biofluids, special collections and requests for human samples that are difficult to find. All our human tissue samples and human biofluids are procured through IRB-approved clinical protocols and procedures.

In addition to the standard processing protocols, Bay Biosciences can also provide human biofluids such as  human plasma, human serum, and human PBMCs bio-fluid samples using custom processing protocols; you buy donor-specific collections in higher volumes and specified sample aliquots from us.

Bay Biosciences also provides human biospecimens from normal healthy donors; volunteers, for controls and clinical research, Contact us Now.