Correlation of Apoptotic Index and Bcl-2 Protein with Other Histological Prognostic Factors in Prostate Carcinoma

This study was conducted to evaluate the correlation of Apoptotic Index and Bcl-2 protein expression immunohistochemically in Prostate Cancers with known histological prognostic factors in prostate Carcinoma including Gleason's score and Angiogenic index (AgCD-31). The study group consisted of 35 cases of prostate adenocarcinoma obtained from the patients admitted in Dept. of Surgery and from cancer registry of Department of SN Medical Collage Agra. The specimens were subjected to hematoxylin and eosin staining, Bcl-2 immuno histochemical staining, Apoptotic index calculation, Gleason's grading. Univariate analysis showed no correlation between apoptotic index (A.I.) & Gleason's grade {mean A.I. 2.23±1.72 (intermediate grade) and 1±0.85 (high grade); p>0.05}, negative correlation between apoptotic index and angiogenic index {mean angiogenic index =109.82 (intermediate grade) & 247.35 (high grade); p<0.05}.Bcl-2 showed a positive correlation with Gleason's grade (intermediate grade 7.69% & high grade 21.82%), but Bcl-2 positive immunoreaction was not correlated with apoptotic index (p>0.05). Besides grading, quantification of Bcl-2 antiapoptotic protein and angiogenic index can be of value to predict prognosis of prostate carcinoma. Bcl-2 immunostain can be used on TURP specimens where often grading may not be representative of the entire specimen.