SPOP and CHD1 alterations in prostate cancer: Relationship with PTEN loss, tumor grade, perineural infiltration, and PSA recurrence

Abstract

Background: In the non-ETS fusion of prostate cancer (PCa) pathway, SPOP mutations emerge as a distinct oncogenic driver subclass. Both SPOP downregulation and mutation can lead to SPOP target stabilization promoting dysregulation of key regulatory pathways. CHD1 gene is commonly deleted in PCa. CHD1 loss significantly co-occurs with SPOP mutations, resulting in a PCa subclass with increased AR transcriptional activity and with a specific epigenetic pattern. Methods: In this study, SPOP alterations at mutational and protein levels and CHD1 copy number alterations have been analyzed and correlated with ERG and PTEN protein expression and with the clinical pathological features of the patients. Results: SPOP protein loss has been detected in 42.9% of the cases, and it has been strongly associated with PTEN protein loss (p