International Journal of Molecular Sciences (Mar 2023)

ZNF750: A Novel Prognostic Biomarker in Metastatic Prostate Cancer

  • Manuela Montanaro,
  • Massimiliano Agostini,
  • Lucia Anemona,
  • Elena Bonanno,
  • Francesca Servadei,
  • Enrico Finazzi Agrò,
  • Anastasios D. Asimakopoulos,
  • Carlo Ganini,
  • Chiara Cipriani,
  • Marta Signoretti,
  • Pierluigi Bove,
  • Francesco Rugolo,
  • Benedetta Imperiali,
  • Gerry Melino,
  • Alessandro Mauriello,
  • Manuel Scimeca

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24076519
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 24, no. 7
p. 6519

Abstract

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Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer death among men in 2020. The clinical decision making for prostate cancer patients is based on the stratification of the patients according to both clinical and pathological parameters such as Gleason score and prostate-specific antigen levels. However, these tools still do not adequately predict patient outcome. The aim of this study was to investigate whether ZNF750 could have a role in better stratifying patients, identifying those with a higher risk of metastasis and with the poorest prognosis. The data reported here revealed that ZNF750 protein levels are reduced in human prostate cancer samples, and this reduction is even higher in metastatic samples. Interestingly, nuclear positivity is significantly reduced in patients with metastatic prostate cancer, regardless of both Gleason score and grade group. More importantly, the bioinformatics analysis indicates that ZNF750 expression is positively correlated with better prognosis. Overall, our findings suggest that nuclear expression of ZNF750 may be a reliable prognostic biomarker for metastatic prostate cancer, which lays the foundation for the development of new biological therapies.

Keywords