Association of Connexin 32 with Prostate Volume and PSA Level in Prostatic Adenocarcinoma and Adenomyomatous Hyperplasia

Abstract

Objective: Prostate cancer (PC) is the second most common cancer in men in the world. PC is associated with many parameters. Connexins may also be prognostic parameters in this study, we aimed to evaluate Cx32 expression in prostatic adenocarcinomas (PCa) and adenomyomatous hyperplasia (AH). In addition, age, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, prostate volume (PV), Gleason score (GS) (and grade group) were also evaluated. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted on a total of 48 cases including 23 PCa and 25 AH. Prostate samples were stained with Cx32 antibody by immunohistochemical method. Age, GS (and grade group), PV and PSA values were recorded. Cx32 staining intensity of the cases were evaluated statistically with these parameters. Results: The age range of patients with PCa and AH was 46-83 years and 50-86 years, respectively. The PV in PCa patients and AH patients ranged from 21 to 135 mL and from 36 to 110 mL, respectively. The PSA value in PCa and AH patients ranged from 1 to 1122 ng/mL and from 1 to 16 ng/mL, respectively. In cases with PCa, no statistically significant correlation was observed between GS and age and intensity of CX32 staining (p=0.523 and p=0.093, respectively). However, the mean age of Cx32-positive patients was higher than that of Cx32-negative patients (72.62 vs 67.03). The rate of Cx32-positive PCa cases was higher than that of AH cases (39.1% vs 24%). Conclusion: Cx32 expression tended to increase with age. However, no significant relationship was found between PCa and AH and Cx32.