Abstract:
                                      Objective    To investigate gene rearrangement and protein expression of ETS related gene (ERG ) in prostate cancer of Chinese patients and its correlation with clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis.   Methods    This study collected 482 cases of prostatic adenocarcinomas diagnosed by prostate biopsy in West China Hospital of Sichuan University from 2009 to 2014. Fluorescencein situ  hybridization (FISH) and immuno-histochemical staining (IHC) were performed to access the ERG  rearrangement and protein expression respectively. Relationship between ERG  rearrangement and protein expression was assessed by Spearman rank order correlation. The correlations of ERG  rearrangement and protein expression with  clinicopathological variables and prognosis were further analyzed.   Results    ERG  rearrangement was detected in 87 (18.0 %) cases, of which 45 (51.7%) was translocation and 42 (48.3%) was deletion. ERG protein expression was detected in 74 (15.4%) cases. Follow-up data was obtained in 368 cases. ERG  rearrangement and protein expression had no correlations to age, Gleason score and pre-operation PSA level ( P>0.05), but ERG protein level was decreased in metastatic cases or castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) cases ( PERG  rearrangement, as well as ERG protein expression, could not serve as an independent prognostic biomarker.