Several lines of evidence implicate the ras oncogene in tumorigenesis.
However, changes in ras oncogene is uncommon in prostate cancer. We e
valuated tumors from 55 patients with metastatic prostate cancer (50 l
ymph nodes, 5 bone metastases), 10 patients with localized cancers and
35 diethylstilbestrol treated primary tumors. Also, 15 patients with
benign prostatic hyperplasia and 23 with prostatic intraepithelial neo
plasia (PIN) were investigated for ras p21 expression. Avidin biotin i
mmunoperoxidase was used on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues
with the Pan-ras (Ab-1) monoclonal antibody. Antibody titration demons
trated expression of ras p21 in none of the benign, PIN or DES-treated
primary tumor specimens. However, 30% of untreated primary tumors and
94.5% of metastatic tumors (94% of lymph node metastases, 100% of bon
e metastases) showed expression (p=0.00002). Semi-quantitative evaluat
ion of ras protein expression revealed a significant correlation with
Gleason score in lymph node metastases (p=0.001). This study suggests
a possible role of ras oncogene in prostate cancer progression, metast
asis and androgen independency.