Prognostic significance of β-microseminoprotein mRNA expression in prostate cancer

✍ Scribed by Hideki Sakai; Toshifumi Tsurusaki; Shigeru Kanda; Takehiko Koji; Jim W. Xuan; Yutaka Saito

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 220 KB
• Volume: 38
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0270-4137
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0045(19990301)38:4<278::aid-pros3>3.0.co;2-z

✦ Synopsis

BACKGROUND. Human ␤-microseminoprotein (␤-MSP or PSP94) is a small protein secreted by prostatic epithelial cells. We recently reported the presence of low levels of ␤-MSP mRNA expression and protein in most prostate cancer tissues. METHODS. ␤-MSP and mRNA expression was examined by in situ hybridization in biopsy specimens obtained from 92 patients with prostate cancer. All tissue specimens were obtained by needle biopsies prior to treatment. All patients subsequently received endocrine therapy. To estimate the influence of ␤-MSP mRNA expression and three possible prognostic factors, i.e., patient age, clinical stage, and Gleason score, on time to progression under endocrine therapy, univariate and multivariate analyses were performed using Cox's proportional hazards regression model. RESULTS. Multivariate survival analysis showed that clinical stage was the strongest prognostic factor (P =0.006) and that ␤-MSP mRNA expression was the second strongest factor (P = 0.038) in 92 patients with stage B-D disease. Analysis of only 51 patients with stage D disease showed that ␤-MSP mRNA expression was the only significant prognostic indicator for progression under endocrine therapy (P = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS. The presence of cells that express the ␤-MSP transcript may be a novel indicator of potentially aggressive prostate cancer.