Increased Expression of Putative Cancer Stem Cell Markers in Primary Prostate Cancer is Associated With Progression of Bone Metastases

BACKGROUND A number of putative stem cell markers have been associated with aggressiveness of prostate cancer, including alpha 2 and alpha 6 integrin and c-met. The study aimed to test the hypothesis that the development of bone metastasis correlates with the proportion of prostate cancer stem cell-like cells present in the primary tumor. METHODS Prostate tissue samples were obtained from patients with high-risk prostatic adenocarcinoma. Prostate cancer tumor tissue samples underwent immunohistochemical staining for alpha 2 and alpha 6 integrin and c-met; positive and negative controls were included. Samples were scored as positive if >5% of cells within the sample stained positively. Survival and bone metastasis-free survival curves on the patient cohort were estimated by the actuarial method of Kaplan–Meier. RESULTS A total of 62 patients were included in the study. Bone metastases progression rate was 46% at 105 months with a median time of 46 months (95% CI: 1–62.5 months); prostate cancer-specific survival was 33% at 122 months with a median survival time of 69.4 months (95% CI: 63.5–109.4 months). Survival curves show that c-met-, alpha 2, and alpha 6 integrin-positive tumors were positively associated with the occurrence of bone metastasis-free survival. There was a higher level of significance when at least c-met and either alpha 2 or alpha 6 integrin was positive. CONCLUSION It can be concluded that percentage of stem cell-like prostate cancer cells has a prognostic impact especially on the risk of metastatic bone progression. Prostate 72:713–720, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.