CHK2 immunohistochemical expression in prostatic carcinoma of Egyptian patients

Abstract

<title>Abstract</title> <bold>Background</bold>: Prostatic carcinoma (PCa) is a diverse disease with a complex molecular landscape that evolves throughout disease progression. There is a great need for novel biomarkers that are more effective at predicting PCa outcomes. CHK2 is a tumor suppressor gene and is considered a prospective target for prognostic and therapeutic applications. This study aims to investigate the immunohistochemical expression of CHK2 in PCa patients and to correlate its expression with the studied clinicopathological parameters, including survival data. <bold>Material and Methods</bold>: CHK2 expression was detected via immunohistochemistry in 71 biopsies from PCa patients and 34 biopsies from patients with nodular prostatic hyperplasia (NPH). CHK2 reactivity (positive vs negative) together with the total percentage of positive cells and H score were estimated in both studied groups. <bold>Results:</bold> CHK2 immunoexpression was significantly greater in PCa patients than in NPH patients in terms of reactivity and H score (P= 0.036 and P= 0.018, respectively). PCa patients with high-grade PIN foci presented significantly lower total CHK2 expression (P=0.04). Univariate overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) analyses revealed no significant differences according to CHK2 reactivity or total percent expression<bold>.</bold> <bold>Conclusion</bold>: Our findings validated the importance of CHK2 in the mechanism of neoplastic transformation of the prostate.