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Prostate CancerNCT03694483

Prostasomes as Diagnostic Tool for Prostate Cancer Detection

An observational study of Prostate Cancer, run by Hackensack Meridian Health at 1 site in United States.

Suspended

Paused. Enrolment is on hold for now and may resume.

Official record
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Trial summary

Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among men over 50 years old in Western societies, with an incidence that is steadily increasing in most countries. The current, most commonly used biomarker for prostate cancer is prostate specific antigen (PSA), which has well known limitations in accuracy and… Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 years and older, men onlyHealthy volunteers can take part
Conditions the study is for
Prostate Cancer
What is being tested?
Genetic analysis for the detection of prostasomes
How many people
600 participants
Where
1 siteUnited States
Study dates
3 Oct 2018to 1 Oct 2026
Phase
Observational
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 years and older
  • Men only
  • Healthy volunteers accepted
  • Adult, Older adult

Study population: All male patients with elevated PSA and suspected for prostate cancer or patients with diagnosed prostate cancer but prior to treatment will be invited to participate. Depending on the results from the diagnostic MRI-guided biopsy, participants will be assigned to either the control cohort (if biopsy is negative) or the patient cohort (if biopsy is positive).

Who may be able to join

  • Male
  • With elevated PSA or patients with diagnosed prostate cancer
  • 18 years and older
  • Willingness to participate in the study and compliance with protocol requirements
  • Have not received any type of treatment for prostate cancer

Who cannot join

  • Patients with confirmed or suspected prostate cancer that have already received any type of treatment
  • Patients with another primary cancer within the past five years of prostate cancer diagnosis. However, superficial skin cancers such as basal cell or squamous cell cancers would not exclude a patient.

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

United States1 site

  • Hackensack University Medical Center

    Hackensack, New Jersey, 07601

Other trials in United States

About this study

Official title: Quantification and Purification of Circulating Prostasomes as Diagnostic Tool for Prostate Cancer Detection

Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among men over 50 years old in Western societies, with an incidence that is steadily increasing in most countries. The current, most commonly used biomarker for prostate cancer is prostate specific antigen (PSA), which has well known limitations in accuracy and requires additional testing. However, prostate cancer cells secrete exosomes, also known as prostasomes, which are only detectable in the blood of prostate cancer patients. The presence of prostasomes in the blood is in itself a prostate cancer diagnosis. However, the assay that has been designed for the purification of prostasomes requires additional testing for evaluating its robustness and usefulness in the clinical setting. Additionally, the evaluation of the cargo of the purified prostasomes may provide more information on the nature of the prostate cancer, which may help develop a molecular assay for a prostate cancer liquid biopsy rather than a tissue biopsy. Therefore, the purpose of this study is two-fold: a validation phase where the purification of prostasomes will be tested on plasma collected from prostate cancer patients and a molecular testing phase where the contents of the purified prostasomes will be evaluated on their ability to determine the grade of the prostate tumors.

We will collaborate with Dr. Masood Kamali-Moghaddam at the Uppsala University (Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology) for molecular assay processing.

Conditions
Prostate Cancer
Being tested
Genetic analysis for the detection of prostasomes
Keywords
prostasomes,, prostate cancer,, biomarkers
Medical subject headings
Prostatic Neoplasms

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Genetic analysis for the detection of prostasomesDiagnostic test

    Whole blood will be collected and processed within 2 hours. Samples will be brought to Hackensack University Medical Center and will be centrifuged.

    The plasma samples will be tested for presence of prostasomes using the ExoPLA (Exosome in situ Proximity Ligation Assay) assay and the prostasomes will be purified for further miRNA sequencing.

Study groups in NCT03694483
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Patient populationMale individuals with elevated PSA and a positive MRI-driven biopsy AND male individuals with diagnosed prostate cancer (but prior to any treatment)
Receives: Diagnostic Test: Genetic analysis for the detection of prostasomes
Control PopulationMale individuals with elevated PSA and a negative MRI-driven biopsy
Receives: Diagnostic Test: Genetic analysis for the detection of prostasomes

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. sensitivity of the prostasome purification methodology

    true positive rate of the prostasomes purification methodology using the prostasome detection results for each of the patient specimens (cases and controls)

    Measured: through study completion - up to 24 months

  2. specificity of the prostasome purification methodology

    true negative rate of the prostasomes purification methodology using the prostasome detection results for each of the patient specimens (cases and controls)

    Measured: through study completion - up to 24 months

Secondary outcomes (4)

  1. Quantification of the miRNA expression profiles of the purified protostomes both before and after treatment (in patients cohort only)

    identify the top 20 most frequently expressed miRNA markers and their level of expression in each of the case patient specimens

    Measured: through study completion - up to 24 months

  2. Time to disease progression(in patient cohort only)

    Measured: Up to 24 months

  3. Time to disease relapse (in patient cohort only)

    Measured: Up to 24 months

  4. Overall survival (in patient cohort only)

    Measured: Up to 24 months

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted3 Oct 2018
  2. Study start3 Oct 2018
  3. Primary completion1 Oct 2026 (estimated)
  4. Study completion1 Oct 2026 (estimated)

Why it stopped: Staffing changes, pending funding renewal

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Observational
Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrolment
600 participants (estimated)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT03694483
Sponsor's protocol ID
Pro2018-0517
Status last verified
Sep 2026
First submitted
25 Sep 2018
Last updated
11 Sep 2026
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
No

Publications

  • 1. Gomella LG, Johannes J, Trabulsi EJ. Current prostate cancer treatments: Effect on quality of life. Urology. 2009;73(5, Suppl): S28-S35. 2. Network, N.C.C. NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology: Prostate Cancer, Version 2.2017. [cited 2017 May 31];2017 Available from: https://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/pdf/prostate.pdf. 3. Pienta KJ. Critical appraisal of prostate-specific antigen in prostate cancer screening: 20 years later. Urology. 2009;73(5, Suppl):S11-S20. 4. Stamey TA, et al. Prostate-specific antigen as a serum marker for adenocarcinoma of the prostate. N Engl J Med. 1987;317:909-916. 5. Catalona WJ. Management of cancer of the prostate. N Engl J Med. 1994;331:996-1004. 6. Harvey P, et al. A systematic review of the diagnostic accuracy of prostate specific antigen. BMC Urol. 2009;9:14. 7. Cramer SD, et al. Association between genetic polymorphisms in the prostate-specific antigen gene promoter and serum prostate-specific antigen levels. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2003;95:1044-1053.

  • 8. Inal JM, Kosgodage U, Azam S, Stratton D, Antwi-Baffour S, Lange S. Blood/plasma secretome and microvesicles. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2013;1834(11):2317-25. 9. Ronquist G, Brody I, Gottfries A, Stegmayr B. An Mg2+ and Ca2+-stimulated adenosine triphosphatase in human prostatic fluid-part II. Andrologia. 1978;10:427-433. 10. Ronquist G, Brody I, Gottfries A, Stegmayr B. An Mg2+ and Ca2+-stimulated adenosine triphosphatase in human prostatic fluid: Part I. Andrologia. 1978;10:261-272. 11. Ronquist G, Hedström M. Restoration of detergent-inactivated adenosine triphosphatase activity of human prostatic fluid with concanavalin A. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1977;483:483-486. 12. Minciacchi VR, Zijlstra A, Rubin MA, Di Vizio D. Extracellular vesicles for liquid biopsy in prostate cancer: where are we and where are we headed? Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis. 2017;20(3):251-258. 13. Poliakov A, Spilman M, Dokland T, Amling CL, Mobley JA. Structural heterogeneity and protein composition of exosome-like vesicles (prostasomes) in human semen. Prostate. 2009;69:159-167. 14. Utleg AG, et al. Proteomic analysis of human prostasomes. Prostate. 2003;56:150-161. 15. Carlsson L, et al. Characteristics of human prostasomes isolated from three different sources. Prostate. 2003;54:322-330.

  • 16. Carlsson L, Ronquist G, Eliasson R, Egberg N, Larsson A. Flow cytometric technique for determination of prostasomal quantity, size and expression of CD10, CD13, CD26 and CD59 in human seminal plasma. Int J Androl. 2006;29:331-338. 17. Fernández JA, Heeb MJ, Radtke KP, Griffin JH. Potent blood coagulant activity of human semen due to prostasome-bound tissue factor. Biol Reprod. 1997;56:757-763. 18. Fabiani R, Johansson L, Lundkvist O, Ronquist G. Enhanced recruitment of motile spermatozoa by prostasome inclusion in swim-up medium. Hum Reprod. 1994;9:1485-1489. 19. Carlsson L, Påhlson C, Bergquist M, Ronquist G, Stridsberg M. Antibacterial activity of human prostasomes. Prostate. 2000;44:279-286. 20. Rooney IA, et al. Physiologic relevance of the membrane attack complex inhibitory protein CD59 in human seminal plasma: CD59 is present on extracellular organelles (prostasomes), binds cell membranes, and inhibits complement-mediated lysis. J Exp Med. 1993;177:1409-1420. 21. Saez F, Motta C, Boucher D, Grizard G. Antioxidant capacity of prostasomes in human semen. Mol Hum Reprod. 1998;4:667-672. 22. Skibinski G, Kelly RW, Harkiss D, James K. Immunosuppression by human seminal plasma-extracellular organelles (prostasomes) modulate activity of phagocytic cells. Am J Reprod Immunol. 1992;28:97-103.

  • 23. Floryk D, Tollaksen SL, Giometti CS, Huberman E. Differentiation of human prostate cancer PC-3 cells induced by inhibitors of inosine 5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase. Cancer Res. 2004;64:9049-9056. 24. Nilsson BO, Egevad L, Jin M, Ronquist G, Busch C. Distribution of prostasomes in neoplastic epithelial prostate cells. Prostate. 1999;39:36-40. 25. Sahlén G, et al. Prostasomes are secreted from poorly differentiated cells of prostate cancer metastases. Prostate. 2004;61:291-297. 26. Fredriksson S, et al. Protein detection using proximity-dependent DNA ligation assays. Nat Biotechnol. 2002;20:473-477. 27. Tavoosidana G, Ronquist G, Darmanis S, Yan J, Carlsson L, Wu D, Conze T, Ek P, Semjonow A, Eltze E, Larsson A, Landegren UD, Kamali-Moghaddam M. Multiple recognition assay reveals prostasomes as promising plasma biomarkers for prostate cancer. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 May 24;108(21):8809-14. 28. Löf L, Ebai T, Dubois L, Wik L, Ronquist KG, Nolander O, Lundin E, Söderberg O, Landegren U, Kamali-Moghaddam M. Detecting individual extracellular vesicles using a multicolor in situ proximity ligation assay with flow cytometric readout. Sci Rep. 2016; 6:34358. 29. Loudig O, Wang T, Ye K, Lin J, Wang Y, Ramnauth A, Liu C, Stark A, Chitale D, Greenlee R, Multerer D, Honda S, Daida Y, Spencer Feigelson H, Glass A, Couch FJ, Rohan T, Ben-Dov IZ. Evaluation and Adaptation of a Laboratory-Based cDNA Library Preparation Protocol for Retrospective Sequencing of Archived MicroRNAs from up to 35-Year-Old Clinical FFPE Specimens. Int J Mol Sci. 2017; 18(3). pii: E627. 30. Loudig O, Liu C, Rohan T, and Ben-Dov IZ. Retrospective MicroRNA Sequencing: Complementary DNA Library Preparation Protocol Using Formalin-fixed Paraffin-embedded RNA Specimens. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 2018.

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

An observational study of Prostate Cancer, run by Hackensack Meridian Health at 1 site in United States.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 5 inclusion and 2 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: paused, as of the sponsor's last update on 11 Sep 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

Results are not available in the source record.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

sensitivity of the prostasome purification methodology (time frame: through study completion - up to 24 months). The study lists 2 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT03694483, which also lists 4 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 11 Sep 2026.

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Clinical Trial NCT03694483 | AzTrials