Biglycan (BGN), a proteoglycan of the extracellular matrix, is included in mRNA signatures for prostate cancer aggressiveness. To understand the impact of BGN on prognosis and its relationship to molecularly defined subsets, we analyzed BGN expression by immunohistochemistry on a tissue microarray containing 12,427 prostate cancers. Seventy-eight percent of 11,050 interpretable cancers showed BGN expression, which was considered as low intensity in 47.7% and as high intensity in 31.1% of cancers. BGN protein expression rose with increasing pathological tumor stage, Gleason grade, lymph node metastasis and early PSA recurrence (P<.0001 each). Comparison with our molecular database attached to the TMA revealed that BGN expression was linked to presence of TMPRRS2:ERG fusion and PTEN deletion (P<.0001 each). In addition, BGN was strongly linked to androgen-receptor (AR) levels (P<.0001), suggesting a hormone-depending regulation of BGN. BGN up-regulation is a frequent feature of prostate cancer that parallels tumor progression and may be useful to estimate tumor aggressiveness particularly if combined with other molecular markers.
