Our aim was to simultaneously quantify the expression levels of PCA3 and TMPRSS2:ERG in a panel of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), normal prostate adjacent to PCa (NP) and PCa tissue samples, to provide a rational basis for the understanding of the false-positive and false-negative results of the urine assays.
We randomly collected 85 specimens including 50 archival prostate cancer tissue blocks, 15 normal prostate specimens, and 20 benign prostatic hyperplasia specimens for TMPRSS2-ETS fusion analyses.
TMPRSS2 expression was significantly higher in both neoplastic prostate and in the epithelium of prostatic hyperplasia compared to normal epithelium (p < 0.01).
The serine protease TMPRSS2 gene expression was studied by in situ hybridization using benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer tissue samples from 32 patients.