Epidemiology and molecular biology of early prostatic neoplasia.

This paper provides our institutional data with respect to the prevalence of early neoplastic changes within the prostate gland and the age and race distribution of the patients. The changes examined were prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) and preclinical (latent) cancers. The literature on the prevalence of these early lesions among different geographic and ethnic groups is summarized, and an abbreviated review of the more common molecular alterations reported at this early phase of prostatic neoplasia is offered.