Modulation of T-cell Regulators Associated with Advanced Stage of Prostate Cancer

BACKGROUND: Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer are the most common prostate diseases. The possible role of the immune system in the pathogenesis of BPH and prostate cancer in recent years has begun to be widely studied. Although many studies have focused on T lymphocytes on the development of BPH and prostate cancer, the role of regulatory T-cells in the pathogenesis of BPH and prostate cancer is still not well known. OBJECTIVE: To determine the amount of regulatory T-cells in prostate cancer and BPH so that it can contribute to the concept of understanding the pathogenesis of prostate cancer and BPH. METHODS: This study used cross-sectional design study. Total samples were 24 patients, with 13 subjects prostate cancer group, and 11 subjects BPH group. Furthermore, peripheral blood samples are taken and then the amount of regulatory T-cells is calculated. After obtaining data on the amount of CD4(+) CD25(+) Foxp3(+) regulatory T-cells in the blood, data analysis was performed between groups of patients diagnosed with prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia. RESULTS: The average amount of regulatory T-cells in the CRPC group was 53.44±29.43, prostate cancer group was 57.02±22.49 and the BPH group 89.71±9.31. One Way ANOVA test results showed that the average amount of regulatory T-cells between treatment groups gave a significant difference in regulatory T-cells with a p-value (0,003) <0.05. It can be concluded that there are differences in the average amount of regulatory T-cells, so we continued the testing with Tukey test. We continue to Pearson correlation study and resulted in significantly correlated with p value = 0.011 (P<0.05) and r = 0.414. CONCLUSIONS: It can be concluded there was significant difference between the average number of regulator T-cells in the BPH group compared with prostate cancer and CRPC patient. Further research is needed regarding the number of regulator T-cells CD4 + CD25 + FOXP3 + in prostate cancer patients (grouped according to Gleason score) and benign prostatic hyperplasia before and after therapy with bigger samples.