Detection of circulating prostatic cells by PSA RT-PCR in prostate cancer.

Objectives : The detection of circulating prostatic cells by molecular biol ogy techniques (RT-PCR) can be useful in the staging of localized prostate cancer prior to radical prostatectomy in some institutions. After describin g their technique, the authors report their results. Patients: 80 RT-PCR were performed: 32 in a control group (including 11 wom en free of any neoplastic disease, 11 healthy men, and 10 men with benign p rostatic hyperplasia before resection), and 48 in patients with prostate ca ncer (43 with clinically localized cancer and 5 with metastatic cancer). Results: In the control group, none of 11 women had a positive RT-PCR, 1 of the healthy men was positive (orchidopexy) and 3 of the 11 patients with b enign prostatic hyperplasia were positive, but none of them had tumour on t he resection chips. None of the the 5 metastatic patients were positive. In the patients treated by radical prostatectomy, no correlation was observed between RT-PCR results, pathological stage, positive resection margin stat us and laboratory progression after radical prostatectomy. Conclusion: This PSA RT-PCR technique developed in this institution does no t appear to be useful for the molecular staging of prostate cancer. This st udy demonstrates the difficulty of standardization of this technique which limits its routine use.