Analysis of the RNA-Seq data of castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPCa)

Prostate cancer is the second leading cancer that causes the death of American men. In this study, we perform an integrative analysis of the whole-transcriptome of metastatic prostate cancer clinical samples. Specifically, we prepare our samples using an innovative protocol NuGEN, which captures the profile of the total RNA, rather than only the mRNA as the popular polyA selection protocol does. Unexpectedly high intronic expressions are observed including the gene AR (Androgen Receptor) and KLK3/PSA, a marker of prostate cancer. Further, certain amount of reads can be found to be across the intron-exon boundaries, suggesting that they come from unspliced pre-mRNAs. Interestingly, we also observe high splicing on a non-coding RNA MALAT-1. We believe that the aberrant splicing patterns are associated with prostate cancer development. Overall design: Analysis of 8 clinical samples of metastatic prostate cancer patients