Clinical and histopathological characteristics of patients with prostate cancer in the BioBank Japan project

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer is the sixth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Japan. We aimed to elucidate the clinical and histopathological characteristics of patients with prostate cancer in the BioBank Japan (BBJ) project. METHODS: Four thousand, seven hundred and ninety-three patients diagnosed with prostate cancer in the BBJ project were included. Clinical and histopathological data, including causes of death, were analyzed. Relative survival (RS) rates of prostate cancer were calculated. RESULTS: Four thousand, one hundred and seventy-one prostate cancer patients with available histological data had adenocarcinoma. The mean age of the patients was 72.5 years. The proportion of patients who were non-smokers, non-drinkers, had a normal body mass index, did not exercise, had a normal prostate-specific antigen level, and had a family history of prostate cancer were 30.7%, 28.0%, 66.6%, 58.1%, 67.6%, and 6.5%, respectively. The proportion of patients with Stage II, III, and IV disease were 24.4%, 7.3%, and 4.4%, respectively. After limiting to patients with a time from the initial diagnosis of prostate cancer to entry into the study cohort of ≤90 days (n = 869), the 5- and 10-year RS rates were 96.3% and 100.5%, respectively, although we were unable to consider management strategies due to a plenty of data missing. CONCLUSIONS: We provide an overview of patients with prostate cancer in the BBJ project. Our findings, coupled with those from various high throughput “omics” technologies, will contribute to the implementation of prevention interventions and medical management of prostate cancer patients.