Serum levels of chromogranin A are not predictive of high-grade, poorly differentiated prostate cancer: Results from an Italian biopsy cohort

Objectives: To explore the association of chromogranin A (CgA) levels and the risk of poorly differentiated prostate cancer (CaP) in men undergoing prostate biopsy. Materials and methods: Between 2006 and 2012, we prospectively enrolled 1,018 men with no history of CaP undergoing prostate biopsy. The risk of detecting poorly differentiated CaP.as a function of CgA concentration was evaluated using crude and adjusted logistic regressions. Further analyses were performed to determine whether CgA was a significant predictor of high-grade CaP in men with low PSA (<10 ng/ml). Results: We found a significantly higher level of cgA in men with poorly differentiated CaP. CgA was however co-linear with age, and serum CgA levels were not significantly associated with the overall risk of CaP, and the specific risk of poorly differentiated CaP (OR 1.001 95% CI 0.99-1.01, P = 0.74). Moreover, in men with low PSA levels (<10 ng/ml), CgA was not a significant predictor of high grade-disease on univariate (OR 1.00; 95% CI 0.99-1.01; P = 0.66) and multivariate analysis (P = 0.85). Conclusions: In our cohort of patients, the serum level of CgA is not a significant predictor of poorly differentiated CaP on initial prostate biopsy, even in men with low PSA levels (<10 ng/ml). According to our experience, CgA should not be considered a reliable marker to predict poorly differentiate cancer in the setting of initial prostate biopsy. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.