Aneuploidy of chromosome Y in prostate tumors and seminal vesicles: a possible sign of aging rather than an indicator of carcinogenesis?

Chromosome Y aneuploidies have been reported as one of the recurrent cytogenetic findings in prostate cancer (PCa) and many other solid and hematological tumors. We have studied this aneuploidy in 28 patients with PCa undergoing radical prostatectomy, one patient with benign hyperplasia (BPH) and four organ donors. A total of 72 samples have been studied: 17 tumors, 25 nontumor prostate tissues, 1 BPH, 21 seminal vesicles samples obtained along with the prostate when patients underwent radical prostatectomy and prostate tissues and seminal vesicles from four organ donors. We have also studied the aneuploidy of chromosome Y in peripheral blood from four of the patients and in seminal vesicles of 11 individuals with bladder cancer (BC). The study has been performed by Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in uncultured cells. Our results indicate that complete loss of chromosome Y is found in almost all the seminal vesicles both from patients with PCa and patients with BC (samples obtained from the tissue bank), and is more frequent in prostate tumors than in nontumor samples. The percentages of chromosome Y loss in the tissues analyzed are significatively higher than expected in lymphocytes considering the patient's age as reported in the literature. The high percentage of chromosome Y loss found in the nonmalignant seminal vesicles of these patients may be an indicator of an ageing process rather than a primary cytogenetic alteration in the carcinogenesis of the prostate. However, a contribution of this loss to chromosomal instability and therefore, to the multistep tumorigenic process, cannot be discarded.