Clinical significance of endothelial cell marker CD34 and mast cell marker CD117 in prostate adenocarcinoma

Prostate cancer is the second cause of cancer-related deaths in men and this is attributed to its aggressiveness and metastatic identity. Our objective was to evaluate the expression patterns of endothelial cell marker CD34 and mast cell marker CD117 in prostate adenocarcinoma (PCa) compared to benign prostate tissue and their relation to the clinicopathological features. A total of 90 prostate samples, including 45 PCa and 45 benign prostate tissues were immunohistochemically examined for the detection of CD34 and CD117 markers. The expression of these markers was also correlated with clinicopathological parameters. Significant overexpression of CD34 was found in PCa group compared to benign prostate tissues (P ≤ 0.001). The expression of CD34 and CD117 in PCa with advanced Gleason score was more than PCa with early Gleason score (P = 0.02 and P = 0.005, respectively). A significant positive correlation was observed between CD34 expression and the level of total serum prostate specific antigen (sPSA) (P = 0.006). In addition, CD34High/CD117High phenotype was frequently observed in PCa cases compared to benign prostate tissues (P ≤ 0.001). There was a positive significant association between CD34High/CD117High phenotype with advanced Gleason score (P ≤ 0.001) and total sPSA level (P = 0.02). Our findings showed that increased expression of CD34 and CD117 markers confer tumor progression and aggressiveness on PCa. These molecules may be good candidates for targeted therapy of PCa patients.