Chromosome abnormalities are associated with unfavorable outcome in prostatic cancer patients

Potential clinico-cytogenetic correlations were assessed in 57 patients with prostatic cancer in whom cytogenetic analysis of the primary tumor had been successful. Clonal karyotypic abnormalities were found in 15 tumours, 18 had normal karyotypes with nonclonal structural abnormalities and 24 had normal karyotypes only. The study began in January 1987 and all patients were monitored regularly until death or through September 1990 (median followup from diagnosis 2.6 years and from surgery 1.3 years). Survival curves were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method, and the log rank test was used in univariate analyses of possible prognostic factors. The patients with clonal karyotypic abnormalities had shorter survival times (1.3 years) than those with normal karyotypes (greater than 3 years). The difference in survival after surgery was statistically significant (p less than 0.05) when all causes of death and when death from prostatic cancer alone were considered. The Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to evaluate the additional prognostic information of chromosomal changes in excess of that attributable to other well known prognostic factors, such as tumor stage and differentiation, acid and alkaline phosphatases, and performance status. In this analysis there also was a tendency for patients with clonal chromosome aberrations to have an unfavorable outcome but the association was not significantly (p = 0.13), possibly due to the rather small number of patients and short followup. Thus, our study suggests that the presence of clonal karyotypic changes in the tumor cells is associated with an unfavorable outcome in prostatic cancer patients.