Gene expression profile of FVII and AR in primary prostate cancer.

OBJECTIVES: The ectopic expression of coagulation Factor VII has been shown in various cancers. Recently, F7 gene has been identified as a direct target of the androgen receptor in breast cancer. In this study, we examined the mRNA expression of F7 and AR in clinical sample series of prostate cancer and BPH.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: All the prostate cancer patients were new cases with no medical history of surgery or chemotherapy. The tissue samples were assigned as either prostate cancer tumor (n= 45) harboring at least 80% tumor cell content, or BPH (n= 36). Relative AR and F7 mRNA expression in each tissue sample was normalized to the mean of the Ct values determined for GAPDH and PSA genes.

RESULTS: Mean plasma level of prostate specific antigen (PSA) was 17.82 ± 3.71 ng/ml and 7.71 ± 1.28 ng/ml (Mean ± SEM) in PCa and BPH group, respectively. AR mean expression was up-regulated 22.468 fold in clinical tumor sample cohort (S.E., 0.175-2,916, 95% CI: 0.001-126,764, P= 0.001). The mean expression of F7 gene in tumor tissues relative to PBH samples was 6.981 (S.E., 0.099-413.001, 95% CI: 0.002-34,183, P= 0.012). ANOVA analysis of the gene expression results showed significant correlation between F7 and AR mRNA expression in tumor samples (p< 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Our study findings suggest a link between FVII and AR in prostate cancer pathogenesis. F7 gene expression could be up-regulated via various AR mediators affecting the promoter region of the F7 gene. Should this be confirmed by further studies, it may be suggested as a potential contributing factor in prostate cancer.