Increased expression of anterior gradient-2 is significantly associated with poor survival of prostate cancer patients.
Anterior gradient-2 (AGR2) expression was examined in a series of prostate cell lines and in an archival set of prostate tissues. The relative levels of AGR2 expression in the malignant cell lines PC-3 and PC-3M were, respectively, 5.3+/-0.1 and 3.8+/-0.2 times that detected in the benign cell line PNT-2. Immunohistochemical staining in 106 cases showed that amongst seven normal cases, one (14.3%) was unstained, five (71.4%) stained weakly positive and one (14.3%) stained moderately positive. Amongst 34 benign prostate hyperplastic (BPH) cases, 12 (35.3%) were unstained, 18 (52.9%) stained weakly positive and four (11.8%) stained moderately positive. Amongst 65 carcinomas, three (4.6%) were unstained, 14 (21.5%) stained weakly positive, 19 (29.2%) stained moderately positive and 29 (44.9%) stained strongly positive. AGR2 expression in carcinomas was significantly higher than that in BPH (chi(2)-test, P<0.001). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that increased AGR2 expression was significantly (log rank test, P=0.007) associated with reduced patient-survival time. Increased joint Gleason score (GS) was significantly (log rank test, P=0.001) associated with poor patient survival. However, neither prostate specific antigen (PSA) level, nor androgen receptor (AR) index, was significantly associated with patient-survival time. Increased AGR2 expression was significantly correlated with high GS (two-sided Fisher's exact test, P<0.001) and PSA levels (Mann-Whitney U-test, P=0.047), but not significantly related to the level of AR (Mann-Whitney U-test, P=0.286). These results suggest that increased AGR2 expression is a valuable prognostic factor to predict the clinical outcome of the prostate cancer patients.
Zhang
Y
Y
Molecular Pathology Laboratory, School of Cancer Studies, The University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
Forootan
S S
SS
Liu
D
D
Barraclough
R
R
Foster
C S
CS
Rudland
P S
PS
Ke
Y
Y
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality*; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D009088:Mucoproteins; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D015513:Oncogene Proteins; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality*; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
C502296:AGR2 protein, human; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D009088:Mucoproteins; D015513:Oncogene Proteins; D011506:Proteins; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen