1. ¹Department of Urology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ulm, Prittwitzstrasse 43, Ulm 89075, Germany
2. ²Department of Urology and the O'Brien Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
3. ³Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard University, School of Medicine, Boston, MA 2500, USA

Correspondence: Dr R Kuefer, E-mail: rainer.kuefer@medizin.uni-ulm.de

⁴These authors contributed equally to this work

Received 9 December 2004; Revised 15 March 2005; Accepted 24 March 2005; Published online 3 May 2005.

Abstract

In prostate cancer, biomarkers may provide additional value above standard clinical and pathology parameters to predict outcome after specific therapy. The purpose of this study is to evaluate an 80 kDa fragment of the cell adhesion molecule e-cadherin as a serum biomarker. A broad spectrum of prostate cancer serum samples, representing different stages of prostate cancer disease, including benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), localised (Loc PCA) and metastatic prostate cancer (Met PCA), was examined for the cleaved product. There is a significant difference in the expression level of the 80 kDa fragment in the serum of healthy individuals vs patients with BPH and between BPH vs Loc PCA and Met PCA (P<0.001). Highest expression levels are observed in advanced metastatic disease. In the cohort of Loc PCA cases, there was no association between the 80 kDa serum concentration and clinical parameters. Interestingly, patients with an 80 kDa level of >7.9 g l^-1 at the time of diagnosis have a 55-fold higher risk of biochemical failure after surgery compared to those with lower levels. This is the first report of the application of an 80 kDa fragment of e-cadherin as a serum biomarker in a broad spectrum of prostate cancer cases. At an optimised cutoff, high expression at the time of diagnosis is associated with a significantly increased risk of biochemical failure, potentially supporting its use for a tailored follow-up protocol for those patients.