Expression and significance of clusterin in normal prostate, benign prostate hyperplasia and prostate cancer

To investigate the expression and significance of Clusterin in normal prostate, benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer.Clusterin expression in samples of 12 normal prostate, 15 BPH, and 56 prostate cancer were studied by immunohistochemical stain.Of 83 cases, 67 are positive or weak positive (81%). The rate of positive or weak positive for normal prostate, BPH and prostate cancer was 17% (2/12), 73% (11/15), and 96% (54/56) respectively. The expression level of Clusterin in prostate cancer was much higher than in normal prostate (t = 8.82, P < 0.01). BPH (t = 7.63, P < 0.01) was related positively with pathological grade (r = 0.649, P < 0.01) and stage (r = 0.609, P < 0.01) of prostate cancer.Clusterin may play an important role in the biological characteristics of prostate cancer by the anti-apoptosis pathway.PubMed0293-54