Overexpression of Ets-1 proto-oncogene in latent and clinical prostatic carcinomas.
OBJECTIVE
The high incidence of clinically diagnosed prostatic cancer is exceeded by the frequency of tumours detected at autopsy. The Ets-1 proto-oncogene is expressed by a variety of malignant and normal tissues. Therefore, in this study, expression of Ets-1 protein was investigated in 'latent' prostatic cancer detected at autopsy, compared with benign prostatic hyperplasia, normal prostatic tissues and clinical prostatic cancer.


RESULTS
Using immunohistochemistry, we analysed Ets-1 expression in 95 prostatic specimens including 19 cases of latent prostatic carcinoma (LPC) and 55 cases of clinical prostatic carcinoma (CPC), 11 cases of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and 10 cases of normal prostate (NP). Differences in the incidence of LPC and CPC suggest different courses for the biological progression of prostatic cancer. There was a significant difference in the degree of Ets-1 expression in CPC and LPC (P < 0.05). Ets-1 was not expressed in BPH and NP, but in malignant cases (57 of 74; 77.0%) commonly demonstrated immunoreactivity in the tumour cells. In our study the expression of Ets-1 between benign and malignant, and well, moderately and poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas of prostatic cancer showed significant differences. The presence of Ets-1 mRNA was confirmed by in-situ hybridization in human prostatic tissues.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that Ets-1 might play an important role in carcinogenesis and/or the progression of human prostatic carcinomas.
Alipov
G
G
Tissue and Histopathology Section, Division of Scientific Data Registry, Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.
Nakayama
T
T
Ito
M
M
Kawai
K
K
Naito
S
S
Nakashima
M
M
Niino
D
D
Sekine
I
I
D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008297:Male; D011467:Prostate / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D050784:Proto-Oncogene Protein c-ets-1; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D050783:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ets; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics
C494041:ETS1 protein, human; C000715470:MAS1 protein, human; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D050784:Proto-Oncogene Protein c-ets-1; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D050783:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ets; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014157:Transcription Factors