Prognostic Value of the Androgen Receptor and its Coactivators in Patients with D1 Prostate Cancer

Background: Prost ate cancer treated withandrogen ablation eventually becomes resistant. Because the androgen receptor (AR) signaling axis affects disease progression, AR coactivator molecules could provide clinical prognostic value. This study investigates the association between AR coactivator molecules and clinical outcome measures in patients with prostatecancer.Patients andMethods: Expression levels ofAR and its coactivators, SRC1, TIF2, and Her2/neu were determined by quantitative RT-PCR in 148 prostatectomy specimens. AR protein expression was determined by immunohistochemistry.Theprognosticvalue ofthese expression levels on clinical outcomes was examined. Results: Increased gene and protein AR expression was not correlated with any of the clinical outcome measures. A non-monotonic correlation was observed between SRC1 and overall survival, as well as Her2/neu and time to prostate-specific PSA recurrence. Conclusion: Although no statistically significant relationships were found, the weak association between some clinical outcomes and two AR coactivators may help improve the current predictive nomogram for patients with prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men over 65 years of age with more than 215,000 estimated new cases and more than 27,000 estimated deaths in 2007 (1). Approximately one third of patients treated with radical prostatectomy for localized prostate cancer will subsequently progress to metastatic disease (2). Although parameters, such as serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA), Gleason 's score and tumor stage, can offer some risk stratification, more accurate prognostic markers for clinical outcome are necessary in order to determine the appropriate use of earlier and more aggressive adjuvant treatments.