This study is expected to release the results of the application of reverse transcriptase (RT) - polymerase chain reaction (PCR) -prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing for staging and monitoring prostate cancer patients. Reverse transcriptase (RT) is RNA-directed DNA polymerase. Polymerase chain reaction is a technique for amplifying the DNA present in a cell. In an appropriate test, the amount of DNA present can be enormously increased and the resulting molecules can be compared with known DNA sequences.

In 1995, seven academic institutions joined with a urology company to study 300 prostate cancer patients undergoing radical prostatectomy to assess the role of RT-PCR in staging and prediction of recurrence. According to the investigators, preliminary assessment of 100 clinical samples demonstrated extremely variable positive rates, ranging from 2% to 50%.

The author acknowledges that the study has generated much controversy. Now the code has been broken and 300 patient clinical forms have been aud ited for presentation at this meeting.