Assessing the order of critical alterations in prostate cancer development and progression by IHC: further evidence that PTEN loss occurs subsequent to ERG gene fusion

摘要

BackgroundERG rearrangements and PTEN loss are two of the most common genetic alterations in prostate cancer. However, there is still significant controversy regarding the order of events of these two changes during the carcinogenic process. We used IHC to determine ERG and PTEN status and calculated the fraction of cases with homogeneous/heterogeneous ERG and PTEN staining in a given tumor.