MicroRNA expression profiling of the prostate biopsy samples from African American and European American prostate cancer patients

Prostate cancer (PCa) tends to be more aggressive and lethal in African Americans (AA) compared to European Americans (EA). To further understand the thebiological risk factors associated with PCa disparities observed in AA and EA patients, we performed microRNA profiling using Agilent Human miRNA arrays to identify the differentially expressed microRNAs beween: 1) AA and EA PCa patients; 2) AA PCa vs. AA normal; and 3) EA PCa vs. EA normal. 54 prostate biopsy specimens (tumor and adjacent normal tissues) were collected from 14 African American and 13 European American prostate cancer patients. 54 RNA samples, purified from the collected biopy specimens using Qiagen miRNeasy kit, were process and applied to Agilent human miRNA arrays. Array data was normalized and analyzed using Agilent GeneSpring program.