Prostate cancer (PCa) has a heterogenous biology ranging from an indolent to a very aggressive disease. The number of men diagnosed with and treated for PCa has increased over the past two decades as a result of increased awareness of the disease and increased diagnostic activity. 

The diagnostic parameters for PCa diagnosis are the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level in the blood, clinical tumor category and tumor aggressiveness as defined by Gleason score classification system. These parameters hold important prognostic information at the time of diagnosis. However, given the heterogenous nature of the disease there has always been a quest for other tumor markers to better understand tumor biology in the individual patient. Additional biomarkers could aid in identifying patients at risk of recurrence after initial therapy, identify targets for new medical therapies, facilitate personalized medicine and address which patients are most likely to develop lethal disease. 

This thesis studies the luteinizing hormone/Choriogonadotropin receptor (LHCGR), the urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) and Vitamin D, in PCa at different stages of the disease. The aim is to address if there is potential to refine the predictive and prognostic assessment for patients with PCa and better understand the tumor biology in aggressive PCa.

Principal supervisor: Professor Klaus Brasso, PhD, MD

Primary co-supervisors: Professor Martin Andreas Røder, PhD, MD

Co-supervisors: Anne Jørgensen, PhD, MDc

Martin Blomberg Jensen, DMSc