Our data indicate that HMGCS2 may be capable of predicting the risk of biochemical recurrence in PCa patients after radical prostatectomy and functions as a tumor suppressor in PCa cancer, implying its related pathway potential as a drug candidate in anti-PCa therapy.
Low expression of HMGCS2 was associated with poor tumor differentiation, vascular invasion and worse overall and disease-free survivals in two independent cohorts consisting of 743 cases.
High expression of HMGCS2 or HSD17B2 was significantly associated with advanced pre- and post-treatment tumor or nodal status (P < 0.001) and lower tumor regression grade (P < 0.001).
Finally, using human breast cancer tumor samples, we directly confirmed that the enzymes associated with ketone body production (HMGCS2, HMGCL and BDH1) were preferentially expressed in the tumor stroma.