Expression of ras oncogene p21 in prostate cancer.

The major neoplastic transformation-inducing genes of human solid tumors are members of the ras oncogene family. We used an immunohistochemical assay to assess expression of both the unaltered and the mutated ras oncogene protein (p21) in normal and neoplastic prostatic cells. With the concentration of monoclonal antibody used in this study, epithelial and stromal cells from subjects with normal prostates and from 19 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia were negative for p21 antigen. This antigen was detected in 2 of 6 prostates with Grade I carcinoma, 4 of 6 with Grade II, and all of 17 with higher grades. A semiquantitative immunohistochemical method demonstrated that expression of the p21 antigen in a carcinoma strongly correlated with nuclear anaplasia and was inversely related to the degree of glandular differentiation. However, markedly anaplastic tumors were often more heterogeneous in expression of p21 and contained areas of low staining for the antigen. Comparison of p21 antigen with tumor carcinoembryonic antigen and prostate-specific antigen demonstrated that ras p21 was the only phenotypic marker that correlated with histologic tumor grade. Thus, ras oncogene p21 may represent a new class of biologically relevant tumor markers and may be a useful adjunct to histopathologic examination in determining the prognosis of patients with prostate cancer.