Aim
To ascertain the applicability of enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) and breast
cancer gene 1 (BRCA1)-associated protein 1 (BAP-1) in the diagnosis of prostatic
adenocarcinoma (PCa) as well as their correlation with different clinicopathological
characteristics of PCa cases and the patients’ disease-free survival.
Patient and methods
This study included 10 cases of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), 6 cases of
high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasm PIN (HGPIN), and 60 cases of PCa.
Immunohistochemical staining techniques were used to evaluate the roles of EZH
2 and BAP-1 in PCa and their correlations to different clinicopathological data and
patient survival.
Results
High nuclear positivity of EZH2 was detected in 53.3% of PCa, while 80% of BPH
and 66.7% of HGPIN cases showed no/low expression. Conversely, BAP1 nuclear
positivity was detected in 70% of BPH and 50% of HGPIN versus 48.3% of PCa
cases. Using the receiver-operating characteristic curve, the EZH2 showed 60.2%
sensitivity, 83.3% specificity, and 65% diagnostic accuracy compared with BAP1
that showed 86.7, 51.7, and 58.7%, respectively. However, the markers showed
70% sensitivity, 56.2% specificity, and 67.1% diagnostic accuracy when tested
synchronously. A statistically significant inverse relationship between EZH 2 and
BAP1 nuclear expression in the examined PCa cases was found. Furthermore,
EZH-2 overexpression and BAP-1 nuclear loss are associated with unfavorable
clinicopathological characteristics. Moreover, it was demonstrated that EZH-2
overexpression and low patient survival were statistically correlated.
Conclusions
These results suggest that both EZH2 and BAP1 can be added to the diagnostic
panel of PCa and can serve as potential independent prognostic biomarkers for
predicting the outcome of patients. |
