CD147 expression indicates unfavourable prognosis in prostate cancer

Extracellular matrix metalloproteinase inducer (EMMPRIN, also named as CD147) is a multifunctional membrane glycoprotein over-expressed in many kinds of human solid tumors. It has been demonstrated to be involved in tumor invasion and angiogenesis. The aim of this study was to analyze the clinicopathological characteristics of the expression of CD147 in human prostate cancer (PCa), and to evaluate its clinical significance in the histologic classification and prognosis of PCa. CD147 protein expression in paraffin-embedded specimens gathered from 62 cases of PCa and 30 cases of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) were detected by the method of immunohistochemistry. The association of CD147 protein expression with the clinicopathological characteristics and with the prognosis of PCa was subsequently assessed. CD147 expression were positively expressed in 51/62 (82.3%) of PCa and 4/30 (13.3%) of BPH cases, respectively. The positive expression rate of CD147 in PCa tissues was significantly higher than that in BPH. The positive expression of CD147 was dramatically associated with TNM grade (p < 0.001), the depth of the prostatic wall invasion (p = 0.008), GLEASON Score (p = 0.001) and Histologic grade (p = 0.001). The patients with CD147 expression were associated with a poor prognosis of PCa (p = 0.01) and the survival rate of the patients with a strong positive expression of CD147 was the lowest (p = 0.01). The results suggest that the expression of CD147 may be an important feature of PCa and the detection of its expression may benefit us in the prediction of the prognosis of PCa.