First, we identified detectable levels of GLI1 in the majority of patients with clinically localized high-risk prostate cancer and more than half of the patients had GLI1 threshold cycle (Ct) values comparable to the Ct values of a housekeeping gene, HPRT1. This suggests active Hedgehog signaling in at least a subset of hormone-naïve high-risk disease. Here, HPRT1 is linked to prostate carcinoma.