Case report: Penile squamous cell carcinoma associated with severe hypercalcemia and high levels of Parathyroid Hormone related Peptide (PTHrP) expressed in metastatic skin tissue

It is known that high levels of parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) correlate with a bad prognostic in malignancies. Here we present a patient with advanced penile cancer (PC) without antecedents of HPV infections and bone metastases but with severe hypercalcemia. By qPCR we observed high levels of PTHrP mRNA in metastatic cutaneous tissue. This is the first reported case in Argentina of hypercalcemia induced by PTHrP in human PC. Furthermore, the association of PTHrP and this disease through qPCR allows us to consider this molecular technique as a novel tool for diagnosis in patients with PC.

Urology. 2018 Jul 25 [Epub ahead of print]

Ricardo E Barcia, María Julia Martín, Alejo Pérez de la Hoz, María de Los Ángeles Juárez, Claudia Gentili

VI Cátedra de Medicina Interna, Hospital de Clínicas José de San Martín, Facultad de Medicina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires. Argentina., Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas y Biomédicas del Sur (INBIOSUR), Dept. Biología Bioquímica y Farmacia, Universidad Nacional del Sur-CONICET, Bahía Blanca, Argentina., Departamento de Patología. Hospital de Clínicas José de San Martín. Buenos Aires. Argentina., Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas y Biomédicas del Sur (INBIOSUR), Dept. Biología Bioquímica y Farmacia, Universidad Nacional del Sur-CONICET, Bahía Blanca, Argentina. Electronic address: .