Prognostic Significance of Immunohistochemical MSH2 Expression in Prostate Cancer

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: There are numerous prostate cancer-related genes that involve in carcinogenesis and tumor progression. Among the genes, DNA mismatch repair genes recognize and repair misincorporated nucleotides during DNA replication. In this analysis, we evaluated the association of hMSH2 which is one of the mismatch repair genes, with risk of aggressive prostate cancer and prostate cancer recurrence. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Immunohistochemistry was performed in 46 patients who diagnosed prostate cancer and underwent radical prostatectomy between January 2006 and December 2012 at Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong. We evaluated an association between the degree of hMSH2 immunohistochemical staining and various clinical variables including prostate-specific antigen (PSA), Gleason score, pathological stage, and biochemical recurrence. The intensity of immunostaining for hMSH2 was divided into 2 groups low expression group (immunostaining score < 2) and high expression group (immunostaining score ≥2). RESULTS: Although seminal vesicle invasion was marginally associated with the degree of hMSH2 immunohistochemical staining, PSA, Gleason score, lymph node metastasis, presence of lymphatic, perineural, vascular invasion, and extracapsular extension were not associated with the degree of hMSH2 immunohistochemical staining. Furthermore, the association of biochemical recurrence free survival with hMSH2 expression was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The hMSH2 expression was marginally associated with risk of aggressive prostate cancer such as seminal vesicle invasion. Further evaluation with a larger number of cases is needed to verify these results.