Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 20, 2026
Detection and Isolation of Cancer in Prostate Biopsies Using Stimulated Raman Histology and Artificial Intelligence
Published on: June 10, 2025
Antibody-based detection of ERG rearrangements in prostate core biopsies, including diagnostically challenging cases:
Scott A Tomlins1, Nallasivam Palanisamy, Javed Siddiqui
1Michigan Center for Translational Pathology, Department of Pathology, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI 48104-5054, USA.
Context:
Fusions of androgen-regulated genes and v-ets erythroblastosis virus E26 oncogene homolog (avian) (ERG) occur in approximately 50% of prostate cancers, encoding a truncated ERG product. In prostatectomy specimens, ERG rearrangements are greater than 99% specific for prostate cancer or high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia adjacent to ERG-rearranged prostate cancer by fluorescence in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry.
Objective:
To evaluate ERG staining by immunohistochemistry on needle biopsies, including diagnostically challenging cases.
Design:
Biopsies from a retrospective cohort (n = 111) enriched in cores requiring diagnostic immunohistochemistry and a prospective cohort from all cases during 3 months (n = 311) were stained with an anti-ERG antibody (clone EPR3864).
Results:
Among evaluable cores (n = 418), ERG staining was confined to cancerous epithelium (71 of 160 cores; 44%), high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (12 of 68 cores; 18%), and atypical foci (3 of 28 cores; 11%), with staining in only 2 of 162 cores (1%) diagnosed as benign. The ERG was expressed in about 5 morphologically benign glands across 418 cores and was uniformly expressed by all cancerous glands in 70 of 71 cores (99%).
Conclusions:
ERG staining is more prostate cancer-specific than α-methylacyl-coenzyme A racemase, and staining in an atypical focus supports a diagnosis of cancer if high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia can be excluded. Thus, ERG staining shows utility in diagnostically challenging biopsies and may be useful in molecularly subtyping prostate cancer and in stratifying isolated high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia by risk of subsequent cancer.
More Related Videos
08:40Quantitation of Protein Expression and Co-localization Using Multiplexed Immuno-histochemical Staining and Multispectral Imaging
Published on: April 8, 2016
13:19Microarray-based Identification of Individual HERV Loci Expression: Application to Biomarker Discovery in Prostate Cancer
Published on: November 2, 2013
Related Concept Videos
01:15Western Blotting
The technique begins with separating proteins from the sample using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), followed by protein transfer, immunoblotting, and finally, protein detection.
01:33Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
There are many different types of ELISAs, but they all involve an antibody molecule whose constant region binds an enzyme, leaving the variable region free to bind its specific antigen. Enzyme-substrate reaction allows the antigen to be visualized or quantified.