Osteocalcin gene HindIII C/T polymorphism is a biomarker for prostate cancer and responsiveness to hormone therapy

Osteocalcin is a vitamin-K dependent protein which is related to the metabolism of bone and calcium. The formation or progression of prostate cancer is presumed to be associated with the osteocalcin gene. The most frequently seen polymorphism is HindIII which is located at the promoter region. HindIII is therefore a possible genetic marker in the search for the association between prostate cancer and normal control subjects.

In our study, a normal control group of 132 healthy people and 96 patients with prostate cancer were examined. The polymorphism was seen following polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based restriction analysis.

The result revealed significant differences between normal individuals and cancer patients (p=0.034) and the distribution of the "CC" homozygote in the control group was higher than that in the patient group. No statistical differences were found in clinical staging and grading. The 54 patients who received hormone therapy were further categorized into response and non-response groups, statistical differences between these two groups were revealed (p=0.007, Fisher's exact test).

Based on our results, we conclude that the HindIII polymorphism of the osteocalcin gene is a suitable genetic marker of prostate cancer which can be used in the prediction of the outcome of patients who receive hormone therapy.