Research
Cancer/Testis antigens as potential predictors of biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer following radical prostatectomy
-
* Corresponding author: Prakash Kulkarni pkulkar4@jhmi.edu
1 James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, Department of Urology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA
2 Department of Urology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto 602-0841, Japan
3 Department of Urology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba 260-8670, Japan
4 Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Department of Oncology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA
5 Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA
Journal of Translational Medicine 2011, 9:153 doi:10.1186/1479-5876-9-153
Published: 14 September 2011Abstract
Background
The Cancer/Testis Antigens (CTAs) are an important group of proteins that are typically restricted to the testis in the normal adult but are aberrantly expressed in several types of cancers. As a result of their restricted expression patterns, the CTAs could serve as unique biomarkers for cancer diagnosis/prognosis. The aim of this study was to identify promising CTAs that are associated with prostate cancer (PCa) recurrence following radical prostatectomy (RP).
Methods
The expression of 5 CTAs was measured by quantitative multiplex real-time PCR using prostate tissue samples obtained from 72 patients with apparently clinically localized PCa with a median of two years follow-up (range, 1 to 14 years).
Results
The expression of CTAs namely, CEP55, NUF2, PBK and TTK were significantly higher while PAGE4 was significantly lower in patients with recurrent disease. All CTAs with the exception of TTK were significantly correlated with the prostatectomy Gleason score, but none were correlated with age, stage, or preoperative PSA levels. In univariate proportional hazards models, CEP55 (HR = 3.59, 95% CI: 1.50-8.60), p = 0.004; NUF2 (HR = 2.28, 95% CI: 1.11-4.67), p = 0.024; and PAGE4 (HR = 0.44, 95% CI: 0.21-0.93), p = 0.031 were significantly associated with the risk of PCa recurrence. However, the results were no longer significant after adjustment for prostatectomy Gleason score.
Conclusions
To our knowledge, this is the first study to identify CTAs as biomarkers that can differentiate patients with recurrent and non-recurrent disease following RP and underscores its potential impact on PCa prognosis and treatment.