Gosling, Sarah B.Arnold, Emily L.Adams, LoisCool, PaulGeraki, KalotinaKitchen, Mark O.Lyburn, Iain D.Rogers, Keith D.Snow, TimStone, NickGreenwood, Charlene2025-06-032025-06-032025-04-29Gosling SB, Arnold EL, Adams L, et al., (2025) Prostate microcalcification crystallography as a marker of pathology. Scientific Reports, Volume 15, Issue 1, April 2025, Article number 149792045-2322https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-98692-8https://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/23955Prostate cancer remains the most common male cancer; however, treatment regimens remain unclear in some cases due to a lack of agreement in current testing methods. Therefore, there is an increasing need to identify novel biomarkers to better counsel patients about their treatment options. Microcalcifications offer one such avenue of exploration. Microfocus spectroscopy at the i18 beamline at Diamond Light Source was utilised to measure X-ray diffraction and fluorescence maps of calcifications in 10 µm thick formalin fixed paraffin embedded prostate sections. Calcifications predominantly consisted of hydroxyapatite (HAP) and whitlockite (WH). Kendall’s Tau statistics showed weak correlations of ‘a’ and ‘c’ lattice parameters in HAP with GG (rτ = − 0.323, p = 3.43 × 10–4 and rτ = 0.227, p = 0.011 respectively), and a negative correlation of relative zinc levels in soft tissue (rτ = − 0.240, p = 0.022) with GG. Negative correlations of the HAP ‘a’ axis (rτ = − 0.284, p = 2.17 × 10–3) and WH ‘c’ axis (rτ = − 0.543, p = 2.83 × 10–4) with pathological stage were also demonstrated. Prostate calcification chemistry has been revealed for the first time to correlate with clinical markers, highlighting the potential of calcifications as biomarkers of prostate cancer.ElectronicenAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Prostate cancerCalcificationBiomarkers32 Biomedical and Clinical Sciences3211 Oncology and CarcinogenesisCancerUrologic DiseasesAging4.1 Discovery and preclinical testing of markers and technologiesBiomarkersCalcificationMaleHumansProstatic NeoplasmsCalcinosisProstateX-Ray DiffractionDurapatiteBiomarkers, TumorArticle2045-232267310414979151