Prognostic significance of p16 expression in high-grade prostate adenocarcinoma

Management of advanced hormone-naïve prostate cancer (HNPC) is a critical public health issue. Useful prognostic markers are thus needed to select patients who will benefit from recently introduced upfront therapies. p16 expression is an adverse prognostic marker in prostate cancer. The present study aimed to determine whether p16 expression would serve as an adverse prognostic marker in advanced HNPC. A total of 79 patients diagnosed by needle biopsy with adenocarcinoma Gleason score ≥8 between 2010 and 2013 at Aichi Medical University were included in this study. The median patient age was 73 (range 52–87) years. The median follow-up was 62 months (range 2–98). Fourteen patients had p16-positive samples. Fifteen patients died from prostate cancer, 10 of whom were in the p16-positive group. p16 positivity was associated with clinical T stage (P < 0.001), presence of IDC-P (P < 0.001), distant metastasis (P < 0.001) and lymph node metastasis (P < 0.001). These results indicate that p16 expression is associated with adverse prognostic factor of prostate cancer and suggest that p16 expression may provide useful information for treatment planning and identifying suitable candidates for upfront chemotherapy or androgen receptor axis-targeted therapy.