Subclonal Complete Loss of CDKN1B as a Common Genomic Alteration in Prostate Cancer: Associations With Race and Prostate Cancer Outcomes.

Authors

Karen S Sfanos, Rebecca Morton, Julia N Flores, Rebecca Y Sosa, Sarah E Ernst, Luke Mummert, Jessica Hicks, Tamara L Lotan, Jiayun Lu, Yuezhou Jing, James R Eshleman, Corrine E Joshu, Angelo M De Marzo

Published in

Modern pathology : an official journal of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, Inc. Pages 101065. Aug 12, 2026. Epub Aug 12, 2026.

Abstract

Homozygous biallelic inactivation of CDKN1B is thought to be rare in cancer, including in prostate cancer. In the present study, we report that the prevalence of subclonal genomic loss of CDKN1B, especially among self-reported African American or Black (AA) individuals, has likely been underestimated in primary prostate cancer. Using immunohistochemistry (IHC) for p27 protein and a large cohort of whole tissue sections from radical prostatectomy (n=412) from AA and European American (EA) individuals, we discovered an unexpectedly high frequency of regions of intratumoral complete p27 protein loss (IPPL) within larger tumor nodules that otherwise showed intact p27 staining that was more prevalent among prostate cancer in AA (18.1%) versus EA (12.2%) individuals. Regions of IPPL were tightly associated with loss of CDKN1B mRNA by in situ hybridization. Furthermore, these focal regions of IPPL were closely linked to CDKN1B genomic loss as detected by next generation panel sequencing of laser captured regions. The detection of IPPL by IHC was associated with ≥pT3 pathologic stage (extraprostatic extension and seminal vesicle involvement) and pN1 (local lymph node involvement) disease, however when stratified by race these associations were only significant among AA participants. IPPL was further associated in both univariate and multivariate analyses with the development of biochemical recurrence and metastasis after primary treatment, specifically in AA individuals. The prevalence of p27 genomic alterations in metastatic disease is higher than that of primary prostate cancer in publicly available datasets as well as our analysis of autopsy specimens via IHC. Overall, subclonal biallelic loss of CDKN1B resulting in complete p27 protein loss is one of the most commonly occurring biallelic tumor suppressor genomic alterations in primary prostate cancer, and could contribute to worse prostate cancer outcomes, specifically in AA individuals. Our findings warrant further exploration into the clinical utility of using IHC for p27 loss as a prognostic biomarker.

PMID:
42586241
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 13 Aug 2026.

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