AXIN2 and prostate cancer recurrence after radical prostatectomy.

145 Background: Sub-populations of cancer stem cells (CSC) present in prostate cancer (PCa) and other malignancies have been associated with more aggressive characteristics. We investigated whether tumor expression of genes putatively linked to the CSC phenotype is associated with PCa recurrence. Methods: Expression of mRNA from radical prostatectomy specimens in 241 patients (cases 147, control 94) was analyzed by RT-PCR. Univariate analysis and recursive partitioning measured associations between expression of 12 CSC genes and PCa recurrence. Bootstrap internal validation was used to confirm associations. External validation was performed in-silico using the Oncomine microarray data compendium, analyzing differential gene expression in relevant studies. Results: Four genes (AXIN2, p<0.001; CD44A, p=0.036; OCT 4, p=0.017; TACSTD2, p=0.008) were differentially expressed in PCa recurrence. Recursive partitioning analysis identified three genes jointly predictive of disease recurrence (AXIN2, NANOG, CTNNB1;...