this invention describes the cloning and characterization of the promoter region for the pca3 dd3 gene . this region regulates the pca3 dd3 gene expression by a unique prostate specific transcriptional mechanism . the present invention relates to the use of this promoter region as a tool for prostate cancer treatment and diagnosis and screening of agents which regulate expression of pca3 . in a particular embodiment , the present invention relates to an isolated promoter sequence which comprises an isolated promoter sequence which comprises a sequence as set forth between nucleotide positions 372 to 460 of seq id no : 1 , this sequence enabling a prostate - specific modulation of transcription .