Abstract:
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of c-MET in patients with advanced prostatic acinar adenocarcinoma and its potential correlation with clinicopathological parameters and prognosis. Methods: A cohort of 135 patients with advanced prostatic acinar adenocarcinoma who were treated at Hubei Cancer Hospital between 2019 and 2023 was included in the study. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was utilized to assess c-MET protein expression in tumor tissues, while fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was employed to evaluate c-MET gene amplification. The relationships of c-MET expression and gene amplification with clinicopathological features and prognosis were analyzed. Results: The positive expression rate of c-MET in this patient cohort was 52.60% (71/135). In comparison to adjacent normal tissues, c-MET expression in tumor tissues showed lower heterogeneous expression. Among the cases, 1.71% (2/117) exhibited c-MET gene polyploidy, but no gene amplification was detected. Positive c-MET expression was significantly correlated with higher Gleason scores and grade groups (P=0.0073). However, no significant relationship was found between c-MET expression and progression-free survival (PFS) or post-treatment t-PSA levels. Conclusion: c-MET is expressed at a relatively low level in advanced prostatic acinar adenocarcinoma, suggesting that c-MET may not be a viable target for ADC drugs development in prostatic acinar adenocarcinoma.