Prognostic significance of neuroendocrine differentiation in prostate adenocarcinoma

Levent Sagnak; Hikmet Topaloglu; Ugur Ozok; Hamit Ersoy

doi:10.1016/j.clgc.2011.07.003

Prognostic significance of neuroendocrine differentiation in prostate adenocarcinoma

Clin Genitourin Cancer. 2011 Dec;9(2):73-80. doi: 10.1016/j.clgc.2011.07.003.

Authors

Levent Sagnak¹, Hikmet Topaloglu, Ugur Ozok, Hamit Ersoy

Affiliation

¹ Ministry of Health, Diskapi Yildirim Beyazit Education and Research Hospital, 3rd Urology Clinic, Ankara, Turkey. leventsagnak@gmail.com

PMID: 22035833
DOI: 10.1016/j.clgc.2011.07.003

Abstract

Much progress has been made toward an understanding of the development and progression of prostate cancer (PC) and the factors that drive the development of androgen independence. Neuroendocrine (NE) cells may provide an intriguing link between NE cell differentiation (NED) and tumor progression in PC. NED in PC generally confers a more aggressive clinical behavior and less favorable prognosis than conventional PC. In this article, we review the known functions of NE cells in PC and discuss the current knowledge on stimulation of cancer proliferation, invasion, apoptosis resistance, serum and immunohistochemical markers, and the prognostic significance of NED in human PC.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Adenocarcinoma / mortality
Adenocarcinoma / pathology*
Cell Differentiation
Humans
Male
Neuroendocrine Cells / pathology*
Prognosis
Prostatic Neoplasms / mortality
Prostatic Neoplasms / pathology*