COMPARISON OF DNA CONTENT IN PRIMARY AND LYMPH-NODE METASTASES IN PROSTATE ADENOCARCINOMA

There is increasing evidence that nuclear DNA content has significant prognostic value for adenocarcinoma of the prostate. There also appear to be considerable differences in cellular DNA content between patien t cohorts when primary tumor or pelvic lymph node metastases are measu red, In addition, prostate adenocarcinoma is heterogeneous in DNA meas urements; that adds confusion to studies incorporating fine needle asp iration biopsy samples. We compared cellular DNA content in 34 patient s with available needle biopsies and pelvic lymph node metastases. Fou r groups of patients were identified: diploid-range primaries and meta stases (8 patients), diploid-range primaries and aneuploid metastases (13), aneuploid primaries and metastases (10), and aneuploid primaries and diploid-range metastases (2). Patients with diploid-range primary tumors had a longer interval to progression and death than did patien ts with aneuploid primary tumors, although neither was significant in this small series. Patients with diploid-range lymph node metastasis h ad a longer interval to progression (P = .04) and survival (P =.09) th an did individuals with aneuploid metastases. We conclude that the cel lular DNA content of prostate cancer metastases in this series of stag e D1 patients was more powerful in predicting time to progression and ultimate survival than evaluation of needle biopsy specimens of the pr imary cancer.