title: bcl-2/bax ratio as a predictive marker for therapeutic response to radiotherapy in patients with prostate cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Markers predictive of therapeutic response of prostatic tumors to radiotherapy may have major significance in optimizing effective treatment of prostate cancer. Because inherent cellular radioresistance plays a critical role in the failure of radiotherapy, in this study, we investigated whether there is a correlation between the ratio of two apoptosis regulators, bcl-2 (apoptosis suppressor) and bax (apoptosis inducer) in prostatic tumors and the clinical response to radiotherapy in patients with localized prostate cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective review of records of 41 patients who underwent external beam radiotherapy for prostate cancer was conducted. On the basis of post-treatment prostate biopsy and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) criteria, the cancers of 20 patients were classified as radiation nonresponders and 21 as radiation responders. Immunohistochemical analysis was performed on paraffin-embedded prostate sections to determine the level of expression of the two apoptotic proteins, bcl-2 and bax, in tumor cells.
  
  
  RESULTS
  bcl-2 immunoreactivity was significantly higher in prostatic tumors not responsive to radiotherapy (38.6+/-4.1), compared with the radiation responders (24.1+/-4.6) (P <0.001). Expression of bax protein was lower in nonresponders, but values were not significantly different from the responders. The resulting significantly higher bcl-2/bax ratio (P <0.01) correlated with poor therapeutic responsiveness of prostate cancer to radiotherapy (1.12+/-0.12 and 0.56+/-0.13, for nonresponders and responders, respectively). This correlation (r=0.67) was independent of age, PSA, and Gleason score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that patients with an elevated bcl-2/bax ratio are at increased risk of their cancer failing to respond to radiotherapy. This study suggests a predictive value for the bcl-2/bax ratio as a potential molecular marker for predicting radioresistance of prostatic tumors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore 21201, USA.
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Mackey
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Borkowski
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Amin
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kyprianou
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017211:Treatment Failure; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein
chemical_list: C494826:BAX protein, human; D005819:Genetic Markers; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein