The aberrant overexpression of alpha
satellite DNA is characteristic of many human
cancers including
prostate cancer; however, it is not known whether the change in the alpha
satellite RNA amount occurs in the peripheral tissues of
cancer patients, such as blood. Here, we analyse the level of intracellular alpha
satellite RNA in the whole blood of
cancer prostate patients at different stages of disease and compare it with the levels found in healthy controls. Our results reveal a significantly increased level of intracellular alpha
satellite RNA in the blood of metastatic
cancers patients, particularly those with metastatic
castration-resistant
prostate cancer relative to controls. In the blood of patients with localised tumour, no significant change relative to the controls was detected. Our results show a link between
prostate cancer pathogenesis and blood intracellular alpha
satellite RNA levels. We discuss the possible mechanism which could lead to the increased level of blood intracellular alpha
satellite RNA at a specific metastatic stage of
prostate cancer. Additionally, we analyse the clinically accepted
prostate cancer biomarker PSA in all samples and discuss the possibility that alpha
satellite RNA can serve as a novel
prostate cancer diagnostic blood
biomarker.