Expression of prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) in prostatic adenocarcinoma and prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia.
The prostatic membrane antigen (PSMA) is a protein that is expressed in the prostatic epithelium. We studied the expression of PSMA in a series of 55 patients with different stages of prostate cancer and we compared the PSMA staining in prostate cancer cells, in high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) and in histologically benign prostatic epithelium for the same specimen. For this purpose archival paraffin-embedded specimens were studied by immunohistochemistry with a monoclonal antibody 7E11-C5.3 against PSMA using the streptavidin-biotin method. The mean percentage of PSMA immunoreactivity was 56.67% in prostate cancer (CaP) cells, and 48.6% in PIN cells, which was significantly higher than benign-appearing prostatic epithelium (5.72%) (for each pair, p<0.001). PSMA expression was greater in CaP with a higher Gleason score (p=0.01), but no relationship was found with serum PSA value. We conclude that PSMA overexpression is detected in high-grade PIN and is associated with a higher Gleason score of prostate cancer. It is a potential marker for studying carcinogenesis and progression of prostate cancer.
Marchal
C
C
Servicio de Urología, Hospital Costa del Sol, Marbella, Málaga, Spain. crmarchal@supercable.es
Redondo
M
M
Padilla
M
M
Caballero
J
J
Rodrigo
I
I
García
J
J
Quian
J
J
Boswick
D G
DG
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000378:metabolism*; D019048:Prostatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen