{"entity":{"id":"paper-pettersson-tmprss2-erg-outcome-meta-analysis-cebp-2012","kind":"paper","name":"The TMPRSS2-ERG rearrangement, ERG expression and prostate cancer outcomes: a cohort study and meta-analysis","aka":[],"tldr":"Following 1,180 men for more than twelve years, and then pooling 48 other studies, found that the commonest genetic change in prostate cancer does not predict who does badly.","summary":"Among men with prostate cancer in the prospective Physicians' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, rearrangement status was determined by immunohistochemical assessment of ERG protein expression, and Cox models examined associations with biochemical recurrence and lethal disease, defined as distant metastases or cancer-specific mortality. The cohort consisted of 1,180 men treated with radical prostatectomy between 1983 and 2005; during a median follow-up of 12.6 years, 266 men experienced recurrence and 85 developed lethal disease. There was no significant association between ERG overexpression and biochemical recurrence, hazard ratio 0.99, or lethal disease, hazard ratio 0.93. A meta-analysis including 47 additional studies covered 5,074 men followed for biochemical recurrence with 1,623 events and 2,049 men followed for lethal disease with 131 events; TMPRSS2-ERG was associated with stage at diagnosis, risk ratio 1.23 for T3 or above against T2, but not with biochemical recurrence, risk ratio 1.00, or lethal disease, risk ratio 0.99.","asOf":"2026-09-25","links":[{"label":"Pettersson et al., Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2012: TMPRSS2-ERG, ERG expression and outcome in a 1,180-man cohort and a meta-analysis of 48 studies","url":"https://doi.org/10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-12-0042"},{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22736790/"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["prostate"],"sections":[],"technologies":["histopathology-ihc"],"targets":["erg","tmprss2"],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":["prostate-cancer-signalling","ar-signaling"],"terms":["gene-fusion","ihc","biochemical-recurrence"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":["cancer-epidemiology-biomarkers-prevention"],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"journal":"Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention","year":2012,"doi":"10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-12-0042","pmid":"22736790","authors":"Pettersson A, Graff RE, Bauer SR, et al.","paperType":"meta-analysis","findings":["No association between ERG overexpression and biochemical recurrence, hazard ratio 0.99, in 1,180 men followed a median 12.6 years.","No association with lethal disease, hazard ratio 0.93.","Meta-analysis over 48 studies: risk ratio 1.00 for recurrence and 0.99 for lethal disease.","An association with stage at diagnosis, risk ratio 1.23."],"whatItMeans":"It is the definitive negative result for the commonest genomic alteration in this disease. A man told his tumour carries the TMPRSS2-ERG fusion should be told plainly that it does not make his cancer more dangerous.","caveats":["Surgical cohorts, so it describes men treated with prostatectomy rather than all comers.","ERG immunohistochemistry is a proxy for the rearrangement rather than the rearrangement itself.","Meta-analysis over studies with different assays and different endpoints."],"changedPractice":false,"participants":5074},"route":"/key-papers/paper-pettersson-tmprss2-erg-outcome-meta-analysis-cebp-2012/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"prostate","kind":"cancer","name":"Prostate cancer","route":"/cancers/prostate/"}],"technology":[{"id":"histopathology-ihc","kind":"technology","name":"Histopathology & immunohistochemistry","route":"/technologies/histopathology-ihc/"}],"target":[{"id":"erg","kind":"target","name":"ERG","route":"/targets/erg/"},{"id":"tmprss2","kind":"target","name":"TMPRSS2","route":"/targets/tmprss2/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"ar-signaling","kind":"pathway","name":"Androgen receptor signalling","route":"/pathways/ar-signaling/"},{"id":"prostate-cancer-signalling","kind":"pathway","name":"Prostate cancer (KEGG map)","route":"/pathways/prostate-cancer-signalling/"}],"term":[{"id":"biochemical-recurrence","kind":"term","name":"Biochemical recurrence (BCR)","route":"/terms/biochemical-recurrence/"},{"id":"gene-fusion","kind":"term","name":"Gene fusion","route":"/terms/gene-fusion/"},{"id":"ihc","kind":"term","name":"Immunohistochemistry (IHC)","route":"/terms/ihc/"}],"journal":[{"id":"cancer-epidemiology-biomarkers-prevention","kind":"journal","name":"Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention","route":"/journals/cancer-epidemiology-biomarkers-prevention/"}],"biomarker":[{"id":"tmprss2-erg-fusion","kind":"biomarker","name":"TMPRSS2-ERG fusion (and the other ETS rearrangements)","route":"/biomarkers/tmprss2-erg-fusion/"}]}}