Prognostic significance of GPC5 expression in patients with prostate cancer

The objective of this study was to evaluate the protein level of glypican-5 (GPC5) and its relationship with clinicopathologic significance in prostate cancer. The protein level of GPC5 in 160 prostate cancer tissues and 60 adjacent normal samples was examined by immunohistochemistry analysis, and the results were correlated with clinicopathologic parameters. The level of GPC5 in prostate cancer tissues was markedly lower than that in normal cases, especially in high-risk prostate cancer. Additionally, the low expression of GPC5 was closely associated with increased serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA), higher Gleason scores, advanced tumor stage (T3), positive lymph node metastasis, and biochemical recurrence. Moreover, GPC5 low expression was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival of patients with prostate cancer. GPC5 protein expression showed a close correlation with the tumorigenesis and tumor progression of prostate cancer, and that might be applied as a novel biomarker for the prediction of diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer.