Tissue specimens from 150 patients with localised prostatic carcinomas and 116 patients with prostatic carcinomas with distant metastases were analysed for histological grade (WHO and Gleason) and immunoreactivity for prostate acid phosphatase (PAP), prostate-specific antigen (PSA), neurone-specific enolase (NSE), p53 protein, c-erbB-2 protein, cytokeratins (AE1/AE3) and vimentin. After stratification for the presence or absence of distant metastases, multivariate regression analysis revealed that WHO grading was the most powerful independent prognosticator, followed by age and prostate acid phosphatase expression. There was a trend towards reduced survival with decreasing prostate-specific antigen reactivity. The Gleason system showed poor prognostic ability. The analysis predicted reduced survival in the presence of extensive neurone-specific enolase reactivity, mostly because of one case of small-cell carcinoma.