High expression of KLK14 in prostatic adenocarcinoma is associated with elevated risk of prostate-specific antigen relapse.
OBJECTIVE
Reliable prognostic tools for prostate cancer are still needed and KLK14, a young member of the growing family of human kallikrein-related peptidases, has been estimated to become a new significant marker. It is the aim of this study to analyze the clinical value of immunohistochemical expression of KLK14 in prostate cancer tissue samples.


METHODS
Protein expression of KLK14 was assessed immunohistochemically in 186 tissue samples from radical prostatectomies. Areas of normal prostatic tissue, of prostatic epithelial neoplasia and of prostatic adenocarcinoma were checked in relation to clinicopathological parameters of the patients. Expression of KLK14 mRNA was quantified in 25 matches of normal and cancerous prostatic tissue, collected by laser capture microdissection. Real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analysis was used to supplement the immunohistochemical data.


RESULTS
Expression of the KLK14 protein correlated with the pathological tumor status in prostate cancer and was associated with disease progression defined by prostate-specific antigen relapse in univariate Kaplan-Meier analysis. The multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model proved KLK14 to be an independent prognostic factor in prostate cancer.


CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, we consider KLK14 to be a suitable prognostic marker for the detection of cases at risk of disease progression after radical prostatectomy.
Rabien
Anja
A
Department of Urology, Charité-Universitatsmedizin Berlin, CCM, Berlin, Germany. anja.rabien@charite.de
Fritzsche
Florian
F
Jung
Monika
M
Diamandis
Eleftherios P
EP
Loening
Stefan A
SA
Dietel
Manfred
M
Jung
Klaus
K
Stephan
Carsten
C
Kristiansen
Glen
G
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D007610:Kallikreins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D012306:Risk
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C425336:KLK14 protein, human; D007610:Kallikreins; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen