To investigate the expression of ErbB3-binding protein 1 (Ebp1) in prostate cancer and explore the mechanism and clinical significance of Ebp1 in the development of prostate cancer.

Immunohistochemical SP was employed to detect the expression of Ebp1 protein in 33 cases of prostate cancer tissues, 25 cases of benign prostatic hyperplasia, analyzing gene expression of Ebp1 in prostate cancer gene chip, and the relationship between Ebp1 expression and clinicopathological parameters of prostate cancer were statistically analyzed. Ebp1 overexpression vector was constructed and transfected into LNCaP prostate cancer cell line, and the expression level of Ebp1 protein was detected by Western blotting. The mechanism of Ebp1 affecting tumor cell growth was verified by observing the proliferation of transfected cells and analyzing the cell cycle changes by flow cytometry.

Immunohistochemistry showed that the expression of Ebp1 protein in normal prostate hyperplasia were significantly increased (positive rate 84.0%) compared with the expression of prostate cancer (positive rate 69.7%) (P=0.001), the expression was negatively correlated with Gleason score and pathological stage (P=0.035); similarly, the gene expression level and Gleason score, pathological stage, tumor metastasis and postoperative biochemical recurrence of prostate specific antigen (PSA) were negatively correlated (P=0.032). Over-expressed of Ebp1 prostate cancer cells proliferate slowly, and flow cytometry showed that the proportion of cells in the G₁ phase of experimental group (78.75%) was higher than that of the control group (53.47%).

Ebp1 can inhibit the proliferation and growth of prostate cancer cells by regulating the cell cycle, and its expression level is related to the progression and clinical prognosis of prostate cancer. It is expected to become a marker and a therapeutic target to reflect the degree of malignancy and prognosis of prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer; Cell cycle; ErbB3-binding protein 1; Tumor progression; Prognosis