p53, c-erbB-2 and the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor in the Benign and Malignant Prostate

Abstract

Expression of the p53, the epidermal growth factor receptor (c-erbB-1) and c-erbB-2 protein was studied in 34 men with benign prostatic hyperplasia and 29 men with locally advanced prostate cancer by means of an immuno-histochemical method. Strong staining for p53 was found in five of 29 prostate cancers (17%; mean 21% +/- 7% of malignant cells stained in the positive tumours), but no staining was found in benign prostatic hyperplasia (p less than 0.05). On the other hand, the epithelium in benign glands was stained positively for c-erbB-2 in 18% (6/34) and for the epidermal growth factor receptor in 88% (30/34); whereas malignant epithelium stained strongly for c-erbB-2 in 21% (6/29) and for the epidermal growth factor receptor in only 17% (5/29). Prostate cancer was associated with a significant decrease in epidermal growth factor receptor staining (p less than 0.0001) and a significant increase in p53 staining (p less than 0.05). Most of the tumours were advanced and no significant relationship was observed between tumour stage and grade and expression of p53, the epidermal growth factor receptor or c-erbB-2. These findings demonstrate that altered expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor and p53 protein occurs in prostate cancer, but were not associated with other features of prognostic importance such as stage or grade.

The expression of waf‐1, p53 and bcl‐2 in prostatic adenocarcinoma

“…The accumulation of p53 progression, compared with 12 of 21 with p53-negative protein has been reported previously in 11-20% of tumours who progressed (P=0.02). In addition, patients localized prostatic adenocarcinomas and 56% of primary positive for p53 had a significantly shorter mean (95%CI) tumours that had metastasized, using a variety of antitime to progression, at 21 (14-29) months, than those bodies including BP53-12-1 [19], CM1 [9] and PAb240 negative for p53, at 33 (24-42) months (P=0.038; [20]. The higher proportion of tumours with positive Fig.…”

Prostatic carcinoma: a multivariate analysis of prognostic factors

“…Both Ware et al (1991) and Mellon et al (1992) used fresh material and found c-erbB-2 protein expression in 71% and in 21%, respectively, while McCann et al (1990) did not observe c-erbB-2 protein expression in formalin-fixed tissue. Ware et al (1991) also compared fresh and formalin-fixed tissue, and found that formalin fixation significantly reduced the c-erbB-2 protein immunoreactivity, which may explain the rather low c-erbB-2 protein reactivity (1.5%) in our series.…”

“…The biological significance of p53 overexpression is not yet established, but most authors agree that p53 protein expression occurs relatively late in neoplastic transformation. In prostate cancer nuclear p53 protein accumulation has been correlated with histological grade (Mellon et al, 1992), tumour progression (Berner et al, 1993) and DNA ploidy (Visakorpi et al, 1992). Van Veldhuizen et al (1993) recently reported a predominant cytoplasmic staining pattern in 79% of a series of prostatic carcinomas.…”

“…Although c-erbB-2 protein reactivity has been noticed in many different tumours, only a few studies have been performed on prostatic cancer tissue (McCann et al, 1990;Ware et al, 1991;Mellon et al, 1992). Both Ware et al (1991) and Mellon et al (1992) used fresh material and found c-erbB-2 protein expression in 71% and in 21%, respectively, while McCann et al (1990) did not observe c-erbB-2 protein expression in formalin-fixed tissue.…”

Breast and prostate cancer

“…Immunopositivity for c-erbB-2 oncoprotein among large number of patients with prostate cancer and its correlation with higher tumour grade and stage, high S-phase and aneuploidy has been reported by several investigators (41)(42)(43)(44). Contrary to this, some studies did not observe any significant relationship between c-erbB-2 immunoexpression and tumour stage or grade (45).…”