Identification of genes that predict the biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer

Abstract

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most prevalent cancer types in men. Biochemical recurrence continues to occur in a large proportion of patients after radical prostatectomy. Thus, prognostic biomarkers are required to determine which treatment is suitable. In the present study, RNA‑sequencing gene expression data from The Cancer Genome Atlas was used in order to develop a risk‑score staging system based on the expression of eight genes. Cox multivariate regression was used to predict the outcome of patients with PCa. The biomedical recurrence‑free survival of patients with low‑risk scores was significantly longer compared with patients with high‑risk scores (P=5x10-7). This result was further validated using another dataset, GSE70769, from the National Center for Biotechnology Information. The prognostic values of other clinical information and risk scores were evaluated for 5‑year biochemical recurrence. The prognostic value of the risk score was determined using an area under curve value of 0.819, predicting the 5‑year biochemical recurrence of patients with PCa. The risk score was identified to be significantly associated with primary tumor stage (P<0.01), Gleason score (P<0.01), and lymph node invasion (P<0.05), but was independent of age. Cox multivariate regression revealed that the risk score was an indicator for prediction of biochemical recurrence. Thus, the risk score is a valuable and robust indicator for predicting the biochemical recurrence of patients with PCa.