Expression of Telomere Repeat Binding Factor 1 and TRF2 in Prostate Cancer and Correlation with Clinical Parameters

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to investigate the expression of telomere repeat binding factor 1 (TRF1) and TRF2 in prostate cancer and their relationships with clinicopathological features. METHODS In total 50 prostate cancer tissues and paired benign prostate hyperplasia tissues were analyzed. The telomere-binding proteins TRF1 and TRF2 were measured using immunohistochemical method. Correlation analyses were used to evaluate the association between immunohistochemical score and clinical parameters. RESULTS The expression of TRF1 was significantly higher in prostate cancer tissue than in benign prostate hyperplasia tissue (χ2 = 62.69, P < 0.01). Elevated levels of TRF2 were observed in both prostate cancer and benign prostate hyperplasia tissue (χ2 = 1.13, P = 0.76). TRF1 expression was significantly positively correlated with surgical capsular invasion (Spearman's r = 0.43, P = 0.002), seminal vesicle invasion (Spearman's r = 0.35, P = 0.01), lymph nodes metastases (Spearman's r = 0.41, P = 0.003), total prostate specific antigen (r = 0.61, P < 0.05), and Gleason score (r = 0.47, P = 0.01). However, there were no significant statistical differences between prostate volume (r = 0.06, P = 0.75) and age (r = 0.14, P = 0.09). CONCLUSION Both TRF1 and TRF2 were overexpressed in prostate cancer. There was no specificity of TRF2 in prostate cancer, while TRF1 may be associated with prostate cancer progression.