Immunohistochemical expression of ERG and P63 in some prostatic lesions

Abstract

Background: prostate cancer (PCa) ranks second among the most common types of solid tumors and the sixth among the leading causes of cancer deaths in men worldwide. In Egypt, prostatic cancer formed the majority of male genital cancer (60.7%) at the NCI in the last 10 years. Aim of the work: the present study aimed to detect the immunohistochemical expression of ERG and p63 (as abasal cell marker) in benign prostatic lesions and prostatic carcinoma and to investigate the potential use of ERG and p63 expression levels to discriminate prostatic carcinoma from other lesions and to investigate the association of immunohistochemical expression of ERG with the other prognostic parameters of prostatic carcinoma such as age, plasma PSA level and pathological Gleason score. Methods: fifty prostate lesions, which were collected from the surgical files of the Pathology Department of Al-Azhar University Hospital and from a private lab. Clinicopathological and histological features were taken from patients files and confirmed by H&E examination. Immunohistochemical study was done by using two markers ERG and P63. Results: expression of ERG was restricted to malignant tissue (Prostatic carcinoma) and was negative in BPH and PIN specimens (P. < 0.001) ERG is highly specific but less sensitive marker (40 % of PCa were negative). Expression of ERG revealed inverted significant correlation with Gleason grade and plasma PSA level (P < 0.05). P63 is highly specific and sensitive marker for non-carcinomatous prostatic lesions. Conclusion: ERG showed strong nuclear endothelial expression in all lesions.