Association of TMPRSS2 and KLK11 gene expression levels with clinical progression of human prostate cancer

Aim The aim of this study was to analyze the clinicopathological characteristics of TMPRSS2 and KLK11 gene expression levels in human prostate cancer (PCa), and to evaluate their clinical significance in the progression of PCa. Methods The expression of prostate-type and brain-type isoforms of KLK11 gene, and TMPRSS2 gene was analyzed by quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (QRT-PCR) in 63 PCa tissues. The correlation of TMPRSS2 and KLK11 gene expression with the clinicopathological characteristics and with the prognosis of PCa was subsequently assessed. Results: The mean values of TMPRSS2 (3.91 ± 0.78 in PCa vs. 0.26 ± 0.04 in normal prostate tissues) and both isoforms of KLK11 (prostate-type: 3.63 ± 0.42 in PCa vs. 0.49 ± 0.07 in normal prostate tissues; brain-type: 3.11 ± 0.30 in PCa vs. 0.46 ± 0.05 in normal prostate tissues) were significantly higher in cancer tissues compared with their normal counterparts. We found a significant positive correlation between TMPRSS2 expression and tumor stage (P = 0.02), Gleason score (P = 0.008), and tumor grade (P = 0.016). Regarding prostate-type KLK11, we identified a significant association between lower expression and higher tumor stage (P = 0.009), Gleason score (P = 0.01), and tumor grade (P = 0.006). No such association was seen with the brain-type isoform. The survival rate of the patients with TMPRSS2-high/KLK11-low expression was lowest (P = 0.003). Conclusion: The results suggest that the up-regulation of TMPRSS2 gene and the down-regulation of KLK11 gene in advanced and more aggressive tumors may open the feasibility of being used as biomarkers distinguishing the tumor aggressiveness as well as novel prognostic indicators for PCa.