67th Annual Meeting Abstracts
Quantitative mRNA Expression Analysis Of c-MYC Oncogene in Human Prostate Cancer
Dorota J Hawksworth
Walter Reed Army Medical Ctr, Washington, DC
Introduction:
Alterations in the expression of chromosome 8 genes have been recently identified in prostate cancer (CaP). Amplification at the locus 8q24 which includes the c-myc proto-oncogene draws current attention as a promising prognostic factor. This study evaluates the prognostic features of c-MYC expression in primary prostate cancer.
Materials & Methods:
RNA of the paired benign and neoplastic prostate epithelial cells was extracted from 105 patients who underwent radical prostatectomy at a single institution. All 210 study samples represented hormone naïve disease and were obtained via laser capture microdissection technique. Quantitative expression of the c-MYC mRNA was examined using duplex real-time reverse transcription-PCR.
Results:
Paired t-test analysis revealed significantly higher c-MYC (in 37.4% of patients) expression levels in tumor than in matched benign epithelial cells (p=0.0105). The elevated c-MYC expression levels in tumor tissues demonstrated a strong relationship to patients’ biochemical recurrence (OR = 0.836; p = 0.0085, multivariate Cox proportional hazards model).
Conclusions:
This study identified elevated c-MYC expression in primary prostate tumor as a predictor of biochemical recurrence. As the deregulated c-MYC expression has been previously demonstrated in more aggressive subtypes of prostate cancer, its role as potential prognostic indicator necessitates further investigation.
