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 serveas useful prognostic biomarkers. The aim of the present studywas to evaluate cytokine expression levels in prostatic needlebiopsy specimens and the association with clinicopathologicalcharacteristics of patients with PC. A total of 18 patients withPC who underwent transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) guided prostate biopsy were included in the clinical study. These patientswere naïve to radiotherapy (RT) or androgen deprivationtherapy prior to TRUS biopsy and clinical follow up data wascollected. Cytokine expression levels were analysed by usingimmunohistochemistry and Spearman's correlation test wasused to determine the correlation between cytokine expression and clinicopathological characteristics. Expression levelsof pro‑inflammatory TNF‑α and IL‑6 decreased as Gleasonscore (GS) increased; however, a statistically significant difference was not detected. A statically significant correlation wasobserved between needle biopsy specimen and pre‑RT plasmasample expression levels of pro‑inflammatory TNF‑α andIL‑6 (P=0.01 and P=0.05, respectively) and anti‑inflammatoryTGF‑β1 (P=0.05). However, further studies are needed toconfirm these results using a larger sample size to confirm theprognostic value of pro‑inflammatory TNF‑α and IL‑6 andanti‑inflammatory TGF‑β1 in patients with PC