Expression of proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 in tissue samples of human prostate obtained by needle biopsy

Combination of Lycopene and Curcumin Synergistically Alleviates Testosterone-Propionate-Induced Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia in Sprague Dawley Rats via Modulating Inflammation and Proliferation

BACKGROUND

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a progressive urological disease occurring in middle-aged and elderly men, which can be characterized by the non-malignant overgrowth of stromal and epithelial cells in the transition zone of the prostate. Previous studies have demonstrated that lycopene can inhibit proliferation, while curcumin can strongly inhibit inflammation. This study aims to determine the inhibitory effect of the combination of lycopene and curcumin on BPH.

METHOD

To induce BPH models in vitro and in vivo, the BPH-1 cell line and Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were used, respectively. Rats were divided into six groups and treated daily with a vehicle, lycopene (12.5 mg/kg), curcumin (2.4 mg/kg), a combination of lycopene and curcumin (12.5 mg/kg + 2.4 mg/kg) or finasteride (5 mg/kg). Histologic sections were examined via hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining and immunohistochemistry. Hormone and inflammatory indicators were detected via ELISA. Network pharmacology analysis was used to fully predict the therapeutic mechanism of the combination of lycopene and curcumin on BPH.

RESULTS

Combination treatment significantly attenuated prostate hyperplasia, alleviated BPH pathological features and decreased the expression of Ki-67 in rats. The upregulation of the expression of testosterone, dihydrotestosterone (DHT), 5α-reductase, estradiol (E2) and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in BPH rats was significantly blocked by the combination treatment. The expression levels of inflammatory factors including interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α were strongly inhibited by the combination treatment. From the network pharmacology analysis, it was found that the main targets for inhibiting BPH are AKT1, TNF, EGFR, STAT3 and PTGS2, which are enriched in pathways in cancer.

CONCLUSION

The lycopene and curcumin combination is a potential and more effective agent to prevent or treat BPH.

Association between interleukin-6 and lower urinary tract symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the association between IL-6 in prostatic tissue/blood sample and BPH-LUTS, so as to preliminarily discover an indicator of inflammation that could show the severity of LUTS.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The prostatic tissues and blood samples were collected from 56 patients who underwent transurethral plasmakinetic resection of the prostate (TUPKRP). The association between IL-6 detected on prostatic tissues/blood sample and LUTS parameters, including international prostate symptom score (IPSS), peak flow rate (Q_max) and urodynamic parameters were analyzed with SPSS version 18.0, and p-value <0.05 was chosen as the criterion for statistical significance.

RESULTS

The TPSA and prostate volume (PV) were found to be higher in the inflammation group (p=0.021, 0.036). There was a positive association between prostate tissue inflammation and LUTS ([IPSS, storage symptoms score (SSS), voiding symptoms score (VSS), p<0.05], [Q_max, p=0.025], [obstruction, p=0.027] and [AUR, p=0.018]). The level of serum IL-6 was significantly higher in inflammatory group (p=0.008). However, no differences were observed in different degrees of inflammation (p=0.393). The level of IL-6 in prostatic tissue significantly increased with the degree of inflammation (p<0.001), and the intensity of IL-6 expression was statistically correlative with the degree of inflammation (p<0.001). The IL-6 expression in prostatic tissue was statistically relevant with IPSS (p=0.018) and SSS (p=0.012).

CONCLUSION

IL-6 expression in prostatic tissue is associated with storage IPSS, suggesting chronic inflammation might contribute to storage LUTS.

Immunohistochemical investigation of cytokine expression levels as biomarkers in transrectal ultrasound-guided needle biopsy specimens of prostate adenocarcinoma

Cytokines influence the biological behaviour of prostate cancer (PC) and may influence patient outcome and serve as useful prognostic biomarkers. The aim of the present study was to evaluate cytokine expression levels in prostatic needle biopsy specimens and the association with clinicopathological characteristics of patients with PC. A total of 18 patients with PC who underwent transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) guided prostate biopsy were included in the clinical study. These patients were naïve to radiotherapy (RT) or androgen deprivation therapy prior to TRUS biopsy and clinical follow up data was collected. Cytokine expression levels were analysed by using immunohistochemistry and Spearman's correlation test was used to determine the correlation between cytokine expression and clinicopathological characteristics. Expression levels of pro-inflammatory TNF-α and IL-6 decreased as Gleason score (GS) increased; however, a statistically significant difference was not detected. A statically significant correlation was observed between needle biopsy specimen and pre-RT plasma sample expression levels of pro-inflammatory TNF-α and IL-6 (P=0.01 and P=0.05, respectively) and anti-inflammatory TGF-β1 (P=0.05). However, further studies are needed to confirm these results using a larger sample size to confirm the prognostic value of pro-inflammatory TNF-α and IL-6 and anti-inflammatory TGF-β1 in patients with PC.

Novel Insight into Differential Gene Expression and Clinical Significance of Dopamine Receptors, COMT, and IL6 in BPH and Prostate Cancer

BACKGROUND

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer (PCa) are the most prevalent diseases in male population, implicated with fundamental differences between benign and malignant growth of prostate cells. An imbalance through a network of nervous, endocrine, and immune systems initiate a signal of altered growth from the brain to the prostate gland, leading to adverse effects such as inflammation.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to evaluate the gene expression of dopamine receptor family, COMT, and IL6 to identify novel correlations in BPH and PCa in both blood and tumor of the patients.

METHODS

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from BPH (n= 30) and PCa (n= 30) patients, and prostate tumor tissues (n= 14) along with pathologically normal adjacent tissues (n= 14) were isolated, mRNA was extracted, and cDNA was synthesized, respectively. Quantitative real- time PCR was applied for DRD1- DRD5, COMT, and IL6 genes in all samples.

RESULTS

We found, for the first time, that the expression of COMT and IL6 genes were inversely correlated with the expression of DRD1 and DRD2 genes through the extent of differentiation of PCa from BPH condition. In addition, the PSA levels were correlated with the expression of DRD1 in BPH cases and DRD1, DRD4, DRD5, and IL6 in PCa cases.

CONCLUSION

Results implicate a potential cross- talk between the signaling pathways derived by IL6 cytokine and dopamine receptors in PCa. Thus, it seems promising to reassemble the consequent signaling pathways by adequate agonists and antagonists to help increase therapeutic efficacy.

Cytokines expression levels from tissue, plasma or serum as promising clinical biomarkers in adenocarcinoma of the prostate: a systematic review of recent findings

Prostate cancer (PC) is a common cancer (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) in men in many parts of the world, although incidence and mortality rates vary significantly by population. In current medical practice, prognostic markers for PC include the presenting serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, tumour Gleason score (GS) and clinical tumour stage. However, existing pre-treatment factors cannot be used to predict acute radiotherapy (RT)-induced toxicity. Therefore, new protein biomarkers are required in RT oncology to improve decision-making, treatment and therapy monitoring for PC patients. The aim of this systematic review is to the update potential research to address the difference in cytokine expression and their association with RT-induced toxicity and clinical outcomes. Studies were collected after searching three electronic databases: PubMed, Medline, and Google Scholar. An additional search was carried out through cross-check on a bibliography of selected articles. After the selection process made by two of the authors, 19 articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in the systematic review. Results from previous studies identified elevated levels of cytokines have been reported in several types of cancers and have sometimes correlated with disease progression or prognosis. Elevated levels of cytokine were noticed after immediate exposure to RT and their association with RT-induced acute/late toxicity of PC patients. Moreover, above studies also identified overexpression of cytokines on tumour biopsies and correlation with shortening cancer-specific survival and biochemical recurrence. Thus, altered levels of cytokine might be predictive biomarkers for RT-induced and clinical outcomes of PC patients.

Analytic and Dynamic Secretory Profile of Patient-Derived Cytokine-Induced Killer Cells

Adoptive immunotherapy with Cytokine Induced Killer (CIK) cells has shown antitumor activity against several kinds of cancers in preclinical models and clinical trials. CIK cells are a subset of ex vivo expanded T lymphocytes with T-NK phenotype and MHC-unrestricted antitumor activity. Literature provides scanty information on cytokines, chemokines and growth factors secreted by CIK cells. Therefore, we investigated the secretory profile of CIK cells generated from tumor patients. The secretome analysis was performed at specific time points (day 1, day 14 and day 21) of CIK cells expansion. Mature CIK cells (day 21) produce a great variety of interleukins and secreted proteins that can be divided into 3 groups based on their secretion quantity: high (IL-13, RANTES, MIP-1α and 1β), medium (IL-1Ra, IL-5, IL-8, IL-10, IL-17, IP-10, INF-γ, VEGF and GMCSF) and low (IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-7, IL-9, IL-12, IL-15, Eotaxin, PDGF-bb, FGF basic, G-CSF and MCP-1) secreted. Moreover, comparing PBMC (day 1) and mature CIK cells (day 14 and 21) secretome, we observed that IL-5, IL-10, IL-13, GM-CSF, VEGF resulted greatly up-regulated, while IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-15, IL-17, eotaxin, MCP-1, and RANTES were down-regulated. We also performed a gene expression profile analysis of patient-derived CIK cells showing that mRNA for the different cytokines and secreted proteins were modulated during PBMC to CIK differentiation. We highlighted previously unknown secretory properties and provided for the first time a comprehensive molecular characterization of CIK cells. Our findings provide rationale to explore the functional implications and possible therapeutic modulation of CIK secretome.

Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Dialyzable Leukocyte Extract in Autoimmune Prostatitis: Evaluation in Animal Model

Objective. To evaluate the anti-inflammatory properties of Dialyzable Leukocyte Extract (DLE) in a murine model of chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS). Methods. Histopathological characterization, prostatein Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, and immunohistochemical analysis for CD45, TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-6, IL-17, and IL-4 molecules were done in prostatic Wistar rats treated with DLE, placebo, or Dexamethasone. Results. Histopathological analysis of animals induced to prostatitis showed inflammatory infiltrate, mainly constituted by leucocytes and mast cells as well as Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia. Serum prostatein concentrations were 14 times higher than those displayed by healthy animals. After DLE and Dexamethasone treatments, the inflammatory infiltrate decreased; the tissue morphology was similar to that of a normal prostate, and the prostatein decreased to the basal levels of healthy animals. DLE treatment produced a decreased expression of the cell surface marker CD45 and the proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-6, and IL-17. On the other hand, the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-4 increased in both the Dexamethasone and DLE groups. Conclusion. DLE is able to modulate the inflammatory response in Experimental Autoimmune Prostatitis (EAP).