Hormone resistant prostatic adenocarcinoma. An evaluation of prognostic factors in pre- and post-treatment specimens

Abstract

Pre- and post-treatment specimens from 47 patients with hormone resistant prostatic carcinoma were compared with each other regarding histological grade and immunoreactivity for p53 protein, neuron specific enolase and c-erbB-2 protein. Significantly more specimens expressed a high malignancy grade when the tumour had become hormone resistant than at the time of initial diagnosis (Gleason P: < 0.0001, WHO P:0.0003). p53 protein immunoreactivity increased significantly with disease progression (P:0.006), while tissue PSA immunoreactivity was reduced in post-treatment specimens (P:0.011). p53 protein expression did not correlate with histological grade or PSA expression and seems to be an independent parameter which participates late in the neoplastic transformation. Thirty-two percent of the tumours were neuron specific enolase positive, but this parameter did not correlate with development of hormone resistance. c-erbB-2 protein reactivity was not recognised. Images Figure 1

Prostatic carcinoma: a multivariate analysis of prognostic factors

“…Like PAP and PSA, cytokeratins are markers for cell maturity. Like others (Feiner & Gonzales, 1986;Berner et al, 1993) we found reduced or absent expression of AE1/AE3 in poorly differentiated tumours.…”

“…However, whereas most recent reports presenting good prognostication using the Gleason system have been performed on prostatectomy specimens, our series is based on pretreatment biopsies characterised by cauterisation artefacts (TUR-P specimens) and scanty material (core biopsies). As in our recent study of hormone-resistant prostatic carcinomas (Berner et al, 1993), we noticed some undergrading by the Gleason system in core biopsies.…”

“…The biological significance of p53 overexpression is not yet established, but most authors agree that p53 protein expression occurs relatively late in neoplastic transformation. In prostate cancer nuclear p53 protein accumulation has been correlated with histological grade (Mellon et al, 1992), tumour progression (Berner et al, 1993) and DNA ploidy (Visakorpi et al, 1992). Van Veldhuizen et al (1993) recently reported a predominant cytoplasmic staining pattern in 79% of a series of prostatic carcinomas.…”

Evaluation of HER‐2/neu expression in prostatic adenocarcinoma

“…Formalin fixed prehormone treatment and posthormone treatment specimens from 47 patients were negative for HER-2/neu overexpression when they were evaluated by immunohistochemistry. 25 Visakorpi et al found that 0 of 147 prostatic carcinoma specimens exhibited HER-2/neu staining by immunohistochemistry. 34 It is unlikely that a water bath method of antigen retrieval alone contributed to the increased HER-2/neu expression in our study, because microwave 13 and vegetable-steamer techniques also yielded results similar to the results achieved with the water bath method.…”

Expression and prognostic value of epidermal growth factor receptor, transforming growth factor-?, and c-erb B-2 in nephroblastoma

“…15,42 Its prognostic significance in cancer of urinary bladder carcinoma and prostate is still controversial. [43][44][45][46] In the current study, c-erb B-2 has no prognostic impact on the clinical outcome of patients. Therefore, the expression of c-erb B-2 may not play an important role in the aggressive behavior of Wilms tumor.…”