Expression of myeloblastosis proto-oncogene like 2 in prostate tissues and its clinical significance

Objective To observe the expression of Myeloblastosis Proto-oncogene like 2 (MYBL2) in prostate cancer (PCa) and adjacent non-cancerous tissues, and investigate the associations of MYBL2 expression and clinicopathological characteristics. Methods Immunohistochemistry was used to detect MYBL2 protein expression in prostate cancer and adjacent non-cancerous tissues, and validated by Taylor and the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) datasets at mRNA level, the association of MYBL2 expression with the prostate cancer clinicopathological characteristics was analyzed. Results The protein level of MYBL2 was upregulated in prostate cancer tissue as compared with that in adjacent non-cancerous tissue, and was associated with higher Gleason score (for immunoreactivity score, non-cancer: 2.43±1.61, cancer: 4.22±2.02, P=0.001; Gleason score <8: 3.50±1.78, Gleason score ≥8: 5.37±1.89, P=0.001). Taylor and TCGA datasets showed MYBL2 mRNA expression was significantly increased in the PCa tissues (Taylor, non-cancer: 7.39±0.28, cancer: 7.58±0.30, P=0.002). The increased expression of MYBL2 was significantly correlated with Gleason score (P=0.001), the presence of tumor metastasis (P=0.000) and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) failure (P=0.001). Conclusion Our study showed that MYBL2 was significantly up-regulated in PCa tissue and associated with adverse clinicopathological characteristics of PCa patients. Key words: Myeloblastosis proto-oncogene like 2; Prostate cancer; Gleason score; Tissue microarrays