Diagnostic value of NKX3.1 expression in benign, premalignant and malignant prostatic lessions

NKX3.1 is one of genes that have been linked to prostate embryogenesis and epithelial differentiation. NKX3.1 is located in the short arm of chromosome 8 and this locus has been linked with some benign and malignant lesions of the prostate. There are several papers about genomic and immunohistochemical expression of NKX3.1 but number of these papers are not enough when the critical roles of NKX3.1 in embryogenesis, tumorigenesis and inflammatory disorders addressed. In our study we evaluated immunohistochemical expression of NKX3.1 in 260 microarray tissues with diagnoses of nodular hyperplasia (NH), atrophy, post-atrophic hyperplasia (PAH), adenosis, low grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (LG-PIN), high grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HG-PIN), Gleason Grade (GG) 3, 4 ant 5 tumors and metastatic disease. NKX3.1 expression was observed in all of the lesions evaluated. Average extend of staining was %11. Average staining was highest in atrophy and least in GG 3 tumors. There was a significant difference in atrophy when compared with GG3, GG4, HG-PIN, PAH and adenosis. %52 of metastic tumors was positive with NKX3.1 stain.In conclusion, with clinical perspective, NKX3.1 is not sufficient for separating nonneoplastic, preneoplastic and neoplastik prostatic lesions. Despite it shows positivity in metastatic prostate carcinomas, it is not enough to discriminate prostatic origin of tumor. More studies with wider patients is needed before using NKX3.1 in practical pathology.