Evaluation of HOXB13 as a molecular marker of recurrent prostate cancer

• Published in: Molecular medicine reports Vol. 5; no. 4; pp. 901 - 904
• Main Authors: JEONG, TAE-O, OH, KYUNG-JIN, NGUYEN, NGUYEN THI XUAN, KIM, YOUNG-RANG, KIM, MIN SOO, LEE, SANG DON, RYU, SOO BANG, JUNG, CHAEYONG
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Greece D.A. Spandidos 01-04-2012; Spandidos Publications UK Ltd
• Subjects: Ablation; Aged; Androgens; Antibodies; Antigens; Biomarkers, Tumor - metabolism; Biomarkers, Tumor - standards; Breast cancer; cancer recurrence; diagnostic marker; Estrogens; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Homeobox; Homeodomain Proteins - metabolism; HOX; HOXB13; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Male; Malignancy; Medical screening; Metastasis; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Staging; Patients; Prostate cancer; Prostate-Specific Antigen - analysis; Prostatectomy; Prostatic Neoplasms - metabolism; Prostatic Neoplasms - pathology; Proteins; Recurrence; Reproducibility of Results; Risk Factors; Statistical analysis; Tumors; United States > US
• ISSN: 1791-2997; 1791-3004
• DOI: 10.3892/mmr.2012.769

Many patients with prostate cancer have disease recurrence following surgical removal of tumors and fail to respond to androgen ablation therapy. Despite the existence of a number of clinical/pathological factors, it is not possible to predict which patients will fall into this category. The results of our previous studies demonstrated that the HOXB13 homeodomain protein plays a key role in the development of prostate cancer and the progression of this malignancy. In addition, HOXB13 has been reported to predict estrogen-resistant breast cancer tumors. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether HOXB13 could be used as a molecular marker to predict prostate cancer recurrence. To examine the role of HOXB13 as a molecular marker with clinical/pathological data, the expression of HOXB13 was compared using immunohistochemistry in 57 organ-confined prostate cancer tumors obtained by radical prostatectomy. There was no significant correlation between the expression of HOXB13 and most clinical/pathological parameters, including tumor margin, invasion, pathological stage and risk level. The HOXB13 expression levels correlated with the Gleason score and there was a positive correlation with the pre-operative prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels. Accordingly, the tumor specimens from 4 patients who ultimately had biochemical failure (PSA >0.2 ng/ml), all showed a high expression of HOXB13, while their risk levels were either intermediate or high. This is the first study to report that HOXB13, together with other clinical/pathological factors, can be used as a molecular marker to predict the progression of prostate cancer.