Genetic alterations in benign prostatic hyperplasia patients

Background: Benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) is a classical age-related disease of the prostate, present in 20% of men at the age of 40 years with progression to 70% by the age of 60 years. BPH is associated with various lower urinary tract symptoms, which affect their day-to-day life. Materials and methods: Our objective was to evaluate the association between HER-2/neu, c-myc, p53, and clinicopathological variables in 45 patients diagnosed with benign prostatic hyperplasia using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). The patients underwent transurethral prostate resection to address their primary urological problem. All patients were evaluated by use of a comprehensive medical history and rectal digital examination. The preoperative evaluation also included serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) measurement and ultrasonographic measurement of prostate volume. Results: The mean (± standard deviation) age of the 45 patients was 69.65 ± 8.97 years. The mean PSA value of the patients was 9.25 ± 5.12 ng/mL. The mean prostate volume was 65.46 ± 11.43 mL. Amplification of HER-2/neu was seen in 4/45 (8.9%) cases and amplification of c-myc was seen in 5 of 45 (11.1%) cases; both genes were not associated with adverse clinicopathological variables. Deletion of p53 was seen in 20/45 (44.4%) cases. p53 gene was significantly associated with a severe AUASI (American Urological Association Symptom Index) score. Conclusion: In this study, we discussed important genetic markers in benign prostatic hyperplasia patients which may, in the future, be used as markers for diagnosis and prognosis, as well as targets for therapeutic intervention.