Study about Predominance of ERG-Negative High-Grade Prostate Cancers in African American Men

Authors

  • James Farrell Department of Surgery, Center for Prostate Disease Research, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD-20814, USA and Department of Urology, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD-20889, USA.
  • Gavin Yetter Department of Surgery, Center for Prostate Disease Research, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD-20814, USA and Department of Chemistry, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD-21402, USA.
  • Indu Kohaar Department of Surgery, Center for Prostate Disease Research, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD-20814, USA.
  • Denise Young Department of Surgery, Center for Prostate Disease Research, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD-20814, USA.
  • Yongmei Chen Department of Surgery, Center for Prostate Disease Research, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD-20814, USA.
  • Jennifer Cullen Department of Surgery, Center for Prostate Disease Research, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD-20814, USA.
  • Inger L. Rosner Department of Surgery, Center for Prostate Disease Research, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD-20814, USA and Department of Urology, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD-20889, USA.
  • Jacob Kagan Cancer Biomarkers Research Group, Division of Cancer Prevention, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
  • Sudhir Srivastava Cancer Biomarkers Research Group, Division of Cancer Prevention, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
  • David G. McLeod Department of Surgery, Center for Prostate Disease Research, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD-20814, USA and  Department of Urology, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD-20889, USA.
  • Isabell A. Sesterhenn Department of Genitourinary Pathology, Joint Pathology Center, Silver Spring, MD-20910 1290, USA.
  • Shiv Srivastava Department of Surgery, Center for Prostate Disease Research, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD-20814, USA.
  • Gyorgy Petrovics Department of Surgery, Center for Prostate Disease Research, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD-20814, USA.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/cimms/v2/7610F

Keywords:

Prostate cancer, erythroblast transformation-specific-related gene, transmembrane protease serine 2 gene fusion, race, ethnicity

Abstract

The most common and well-documented prostate cancer (CaP) genome alteration, erythroblast transformation-specific-related gene (ERG) fusions, cause changes in the expression of the ERG oncoprotein. ERG frequencies are significantly lower in African American (AA) men's tumours than in Caucasian American (CA) men's tumours. Evaluations of the ERG alterations at the genomic, transcriptional and protein levels have continued to suggest lower frequencies of ERG in AA CaP in comparison to CA CaP. Based on our preliminary findings, we focused this study on the increased association of ERG-negative status with higher-grade prostate tumours in AA men. Representative whole-mount prostate sections from a matched cohort of 63 AA and 63 CA men with Gleason scores of 4+3 and those with Gleason scores of 8-10 were analyzed for ERG oncoprotein by immunohistochemistry. The striking finding of this study was that ERG expression was 3 times more likely to be present in the higher-grade index tumors of CA men compared to AA men (31 of 63 vs. 10 of 63 patients, respectively; P<0.0001). Even though the mechanisms underlying such disparities have not been identified, the current study, along with our previous findings, suggests that ERG typing may improve understanding of ethnic differences and future CaP targeted therapy.

Published

2022-09-14

How to Cite

James Farrell, Gavin Yetter, Indu Kohaar, Denise Young, Yongmei Chen, Jennifer Cullen, … Gyorgy Petrovics. (2022). Study about Predominance of ERG-Negative High-Grade Prostate Cancers in African American Men. Current Innovations in Medicine and Medical Science Vol. 2, 83–91. https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/cimms/v2/7610F

Issue

Current Innovations in Medicine and Medical Science Vol. 2

Section

Chapters