Year: 2016
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Oncogenic activation of the ERG in prostate cancer (CaP) results from tumor cell specific gene fusions (predominantly TMPRSS2-ERG) that encode truncated ERG oncoprotein.Despite the prevalence of ERG alterations in CaP, emerging reports have underscored remarkable differences in the frequency of ERG alterations among different racial/ethnic groups.In this study, ERG oncoprotein status is compared in a large cohort of African American (AA) and Caucasian American (CA) men within an equalaccess military healthcare system and examined for its association with CaP progression.METHODS: Representative sections of whole mounted prostatectomy specimens from AA (N¼373) and CA (N¼684) patients were evaluated for ERG oncoprotein status by previously established immuno-histochemistry assays that showed very high concordance between ERG oncoprotein expression and ERG genomic fusions.ERG positive or negative status of index prostate tumors was analyzed for associations with self reported race/ethnicity, BMI, tumor grade, stage, multi-focality, and biochemical recurrence (BCR) and distant metastasis.RESULTS: Comparison of ERG frequencies in index tumors of AA and CA men confirmed the significantly lower rate of ERG alterations in this large cohort of AA CaP.Another striking finding was the significant association between negative ERG index tumor status with greater odds of BCR and metastasis over time for CA men, controlling for key clinical covariates.CONCLUSIONS: Distinct biological behavior of ERG positive or negative tumors in the context of race was evident in this study.These data are consistent with some of the previous reports including ours.This large cohort study underscores that ERG negative index status in CA men is predictive of disease progression.
Source: The Journal of Urology
Authors: Bin Gui, Adam Kibel, Li Jia
Language: English
Subfield: Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funder: National Cancer Institute
OpenAlex ID: W2329166085