Prognostic value of insulin-like growth factor II mRNA binding protein 3 in patients treated with radical prostatectomy

OBJECTIVE: • To evaluate the association of insulinlike growth factor II mRNA binding protein 3 (IMP3) with pathological features and outcomes in patients treated with radical prostatectomy (RP). PATIENTS AND METHODS: • Immunohistochemical staining for IMP3 was performed on archival tissue microarray specimens from 232 consecutive patients treated with RP for clinically localized disease. • None of the patients received neoadjuvant or adjuvant radiation or hormone therapy. • IMP3 expression was histologically categorized as normal or abnormal. • Disease recurrence was classified as aggressive if metastases were present, post-recurrence prostate-specific antigen (PSA) doubling time was less than 10 months, or if the patients failed to respond to salvage local radiation therapy. RESULTS: • The median follow-up was 69.8 months (interquartile range [IQR]: 40.1-99.5). • IMP3 expression was abnormal in 42 (18.1%) of 232 patients. • IMP3 expression was associated with extracapsular extension (P = 0.020), seminal vesicle invasion (P = 0.024), lymphovascular invasion (P = 0.036) and a high pathological Gleason score (P = 0.009). • The 5-year PSA recurrence-free survival for IMP3-negative patients was 83% (standard error [SE] = 3) vs 67% (SE = 8) in IMP3-positive patients (log-rank test, P = 0.015). • In a multivariable analysis that adjusted for the effects of surgical margins, extracapsular extension and seminal vesicle invasion, PSA (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.04, P = 0.013), lymph node metastasis (HR: 16.7, P < 0.001) and a high pathological Gleason score (HR 4.3, P = 0.008) were significantly associated with PSA recurrence-free survival, whereas IMP3 expression was not (P = 0.11). Similarly, IMP3 expression was only associated with aggressive recurrence (HR 3.2, P = 0.006). CONCLUSION: • IMP3 expression is abnormal in approximately one-fifth of prostate cancers. Although IMP3 is differentially expressed in patients with features of biologically aggressive prostate cancer, it does not have an independent prognostic value in patients treated with RP.