Tmprss2-erg gene fusion is not associated with outcome in patients treated by prostatectomy Journal Article


Authors: Gopalan, A.; Leversha, M. A.; Satagopan, J. M.; Zhou, Q.; Al-Ahmadie, H. A.; Fine, S. W.; Eastham, J. A.; Scardino, P. T.; Scher, H. I.; Tickoo, S. K.; Reuter, V. E.; Gerald, W.
Article Title: Tmprss2-erg gene fusion is not associated with outcome in patients treated by prostatectomy
Abstract: A significant number of prostate cancers have been shown to have recurrent chromosomal rearrangements resulting in the fusion of the androgen-regulated TMPRSS2 promoter to a member of the ETS transcription factor family, most commonly ERG. This results in ERG overexpression, which may have a direct causal role in prostate tumorigenesis or progression. However, the clinical significance of the rearrangement is unclear, and in particular, relationship to outcome has been inconsistent in recent reports. We analyzed TMPRSS2-ERG gene rearrangement status by fluorescence in situ hybridization in 521 cases of clinically localized surgically treated prostate cancer with 95 months of median follow-up and also in 40 unmatched metastases. Forty-two percent of primary tumors and 40% of metastases had rearrangements. Eleven percent had copy number increase (CNI) of the TMPRRS2-ERG region. Rearrangement alone was associated with lower grade, but not with stage, biochemical recurrence, metastases, or death. CNI with and without rearrangement was associated with high grade and advanced stage. Further, a subgroup of cancers with CNI and rearrangement by deletion, with two or more copies of the deleted locus, tended to be more clinically aggressive. DNA index assessment revealed that the majority of tumors with CNI of TMPRSS2-ERG had generalized aneuploidy/tetraploidy in contrast to tumors without TMPRSS2-ERG CNI, which were predominantly diploid. We therefore conclude that translocation of TMPRSS2-ERG is not associated with outcome, and the aggressive clinical features associated with CNI of chromosome 21 reflect generalized aneuploidy and are not due to CNI specifically of rearranged TMPRSS2-ERG. © 2009 American Association for Cancer Research.
Keywords: controlled study; human tissue; protein expression; treatment outcome; gene translocation; major clinical study; promoter region; gene deletion; cancer localization; flow cytometry; follow up; metastasis; prostate cancer; prostatic neoplasms; fluorescence in situ hybridization; gene rearrangement; serine endopeptidases; oligonucleotide array sequence analysis; prostatectomy; gene fusion; transcription factor erg; neoplasm metastasis; chromosome rearrangement; translocation, genetic; trans-activators; chromosome aberrations; aneuploidy; erg gene; tetraploidy; tmprss2 gene
Journal Title: Cancer Research
Volume: 69
Issue: 4
ISSN: 0008-5472
Publisher: American Association for Cancer Research  
Date Published: 2009-02-15
Start Page: 1400
End Page: 1406
Language: English
DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.can-08-2467
PUBMED: 19190343
PROVIDER: scopus
PMCID: PMC3676271
DOI/URL:
Notes: --- - "Cited By (since 1996): 32" - "Export Date: 30 November 2010" - "CODEN: CNREA" - "Source: Scopus"
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MSK Authors
  1. Jaya M Satagopan
    141 Satagopan
  2. Peter T Scardino
    671 Scardino
  3. Satish K Tickoo
    485 Tickoo
  4. William L Gerald
    375 Gerald
  5. Qin Zhou
    254 Zhou
  6. Anuradha Gopalan
    417 Gopalan
  7. James Eastham
    540 Eastham
  8. Samson W Fine
    463 Fine
  9. Victor Reuter
    1228 Reuter
  10. Howard Scher
    1130 Scher