Apoptosis in prostatic adenocarcinomas; a study of relationship to Ki-67 and Bcl-2 protein expression.
BACKGROUND
Tissue samples from patients with prostatic adenocarcinoma (PCA) were examined for relationship between apoptosis and expression of Ki-67 and bcl-2 protein.


METHODS
Prostatic tissue was obtained from 29 prostatic cancer patients with no prior therapy. The number of apoptotic cells (apoptotic index; AI) and the percentage of Ki-67 stained cells (Ki-67 labeling index; LI) were compared with the expression of bcl-2 which was evaluated by the proportion and intensity of tumor cell immunostaining.


RESULTS
Both AI and LI of moderately and poorly differentiated PCAs were significantly higher than those of well differentiated PCAs. There was a significant correlation between AI and LI. Bcl-2 protein was expressed less in moderately and poorly differentiated PCAs than in well differentiated PCAs. Moreover, there was no correlation between the bcl-2 protein expression and the AI.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that, in PCAs, the degree of apoptosis is correlated with the cellular proliferation, and that expression of bcl-2 protein is not a critical factor that determines the degree of apoptosis.
Tanji
N
N
Department of Urology, Ehime University Medical School, Japan. tanji@m.ehime-u.ac.jp
Yokoyama
M
M
Sugamoto
T
T
Takeuchi
M
M
Terada
N
N
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017209:Apoptosis; D002455:Cell Division; D006801:Humans; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000032:analysis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology*; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000032:analysis*
D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2