Frequency of ERG-positive prostate carcinoma in Poland

Abstract

Prostatic carcinoma (PC) is one of the most frequent cancers in men. Molecular pathogenesis of PC remains poorly understood. Translocations involving ERG were found to be the single most frequent genetic event. A strong correlation exists between this translocation and ERG positivity on immunohistochemistry. The rate of ERG positivity and its relationship with other clinicopathological parameters differ between populations and between studies; in particular, there are few data on ERG-positive PC in Eastern Europeans. In the present study, tissue microarrays of unselected PC cases were constructed and standard immunohistochemistry for ERG performed. The results were compared with the basic pathologic prognostic parameters. The group under study consisted of 113 cases; 52 (46.02%) were positive for ERG. The positive cases showed a slightly higher Gleason score (median 6 vs. 7). The majority of ERG-positive cases showed nerve bundle invasion and were also less likely to be prostate confined than negative ones. In conclusion, the frequency of ERG-positive PC in our series is similar to Western populations, and they show some unfavorable prognostic features.

Mast cells influence neoangiogenesis in prostatic cancer independently of ERG status

“…Its molecular pathogenesis is complex, yet a significant proportion of cases bear recurrent translocation involving ETS family genes; this results in increased expression of ETS transcription factors, most frequently ERG, which may be easily detected by immunohistochemistry [3,4]. In one of our previous studies, the frequency of ERG positivity in PC was 46%, which is similar to other European populations [5]. We found that ERG-positive PC have a higher number of microvessels [6].…”

“…The slides were counterstained with Mayer's hematoxylin (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, USA) and coverslipped. The results of the ERG staining were scored as positive when unequivocal nuclear staining was present; very faint nuclear as well as any cytoplasmic reaction was ignored, as previously reported [5]. The slides for tryptase ( Fig.…”

Prostate cancer with different ERG status may show different FOXP3-positive cell numbers

“…The LabVision detection system (Thermo Scientific, USA) was used for each staining. The results of the ERG staining were scored as positive when unequivocal nuclear staining was present; very faint nuclear as well as any cytoplasmic reaction was ignored, as previously reported [11]. The FOXP3 expressing cells were counted in each tissue microarray core and the results were expressed as the number of cells per mm 2 .…”

Augmented immunoexpression of survivin correlates with parameters of aggressiveness in prostate cancer

“…There are over 540 000 new cases diagnosed each year worldwide [5]. It occupies second place in mortality in Poland and first place in the USA [6,7].…”