By stratifying patients for Gleason groups, we found that differences in relapse-free survival in dependence of HDAC2 expression were especially prominent in the subgroup of patients with Gleason 7 tumours (Gleason 2–6: P=0.833, Gleason 7: P=0.008, Gleason 8–10: P=0.272). Here, HDAC2 is linked to neoplasm.