title: Loss of PLZF expression in prostate cancer by immunohistochemistry correlates with tumor aggressiveness and metastasis.
abstract: PLZF is a transcription repressor, which plays a critical role in development, spermatogenesis and oncogenesis. Down-regulation of PLZF has been found in various tumor cell lines. There has been virtually no tissue study on the expression of PLZF in prostate cancer (PCa). PCa is a heterogeneous disease, most of which are indolent and non-lethal. Currently there are no biomarkers that distinguish indolent from aggressive PCa; therefore there is an urgent need for such markers to provide clinical decision support. This study aimed to investigate the expression of PLZF by immunohistochemistry in different grade as well as metastatic PCa and to correlate the alteration of PLZF expression with PCa aggressiveness. We studied a total of 83 primary PCa from biopsies, 43 metastatic PCa and 8 paired primary and metastatic PCa from radical prostatectomies with lymph node dissection. Our results demonstrated that PLZF was strongly expressed in almost all (~100%) benign luminal cells (n=77) and low grade (Gleason pattern 3) PCa (n=70) and weak or absent (100%) in basal cells (n=70). Decreased or lost expression of PLZF was evidenced in 26% of high-grade (Gleason 4 and 5) primary PCa (n=70) and 84% metastatic PCa (n=43). The primary high grade PCa in the prostatectomies shared similar PLZF loss/decrease and histomorphology to that of paired parallel lymph node metastases. These data demonstrated that down-regulation of PLZF is an important molecular process for tumor progression and loss of PLZF expression detected by routine immunohistochemistry is a promising and valuable biomarker for PCa aggressiveness and metastasis in the personalized care of PCa.
authors: Departments of Pathology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, United States of America.
authors: Guang-Qian
authors: GQ
authors: Xiao
authors: Departments of Pathology, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors: Pamela
authors: P
authors: Unger
authors: Departments of Pathology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, United States of America.
authors: Qi
authors: Q
authors: Yang
authors: Departments of Pathology, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors: Yayoi
authors: Y
authors: Kinoshita
authors: Departments of Pathology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, United States of America.
authors: Kyra
authors: K
authors: Singh
authors: Departments of Pathology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, United States of America.
authors: Loralee
authors: L
authors: McMahon
authors: Departments of Pathology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, United States of America.
authors: Kent
authors: K
authors: Nastiuk
authors: Departments of Pathology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, United States of America.
authors: Kai
authors: K
authors: Sha
authors: Departments of Pathology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, United States of America.
authors: John
authors: J
authors: Krolewski
authors: Departments of Pathology, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Burstein
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051741:Kruppel-Like Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D008297:Male; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000473:pathology*; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis / Q000473:pathology*; D000075722:Promyelocytic Leukemia Zinc Finger Protein; D011468:Prostatectomy; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery
chemical_list: D051741:Kruppel-Like Transcription Factors; D000075722:Promyelocytic Leukemia Zinc Finger Protein; C092037:ZBTB16 protein, human