Evaluation of some tissue and serum biomarkers in prostatic carcinoma among Egyptian males.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of soluble E-cadherin as a serum marker and bcl-2 and DNA content as tissue markers in characterization and management of prostatic adenocarcinoma (PC) among Egyptian males.


METHODS
The study group included 71 patients with prostatic adenocarcinoma, 30 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and 20 normal male subjects. Serum soluble E-cadherin (sE-cadherin) and PSA were quantified by ELISA and MEIA (microparticle enzyme immunoassay) techniques, respectively. Tissue samples were investigated for bcl-2 chromosomal translocation t(14;18) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) together with detection of bcl-2 protein expression by immunohistochemistry. The results were correlated with DNA content (as defined by flow cytometric analysis) and also with traditional clinicopathologic parameters.


RESULTS
Our data revealed that, serum PSA was superior to sE-cadherin as a marker for PC with a sensitivity of 83% compared to 59% in case of E-cadherin at the same specificity (96.6%). Combination of both markers raised the sensitivity to 90%. E-cadherin correlated with Gleason score. Ploidy status, synthetic phase fraction (SPF), and proliferation index (PI) correlated significantly with tumor Gleason score. PI was also correlated to clinical stage. bcl-2 protein was overexpressed in 14% of PC and it showed a trend for correlation with tumor Gleason score (p = 0.06). We failed to detect chromosomal t(14;18) in the bcl-2 gene in all the studied tumors.


CONCLUSIONS
E-Cadherin is a clinically useful biomarker in PC specially in combination with PSA. DNA content changes and bcl-2 oncogene may account for tumorogenesis and may assist in prognostication of PC.
Ahmed
M I
MI
Biochemistry Department, Ain Shams Faculty of Medicine, Abassia, Cairo, Egypt.
Abd-Elmotelib
F
F
Farag
R M
RM
Ziada
N A
NA
Khalifa
A
A
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015820:Cadherins / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002883:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 14; D002889:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 2; D004171:Diploidy; D004534:Egypt; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood; D011470:Prostatic Hyperplasia / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012016:Reference Values; D014178:Translocation, Genetic
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D015820:Cadherins; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen