Immunohistological analysis of mast cell numbers in the intratumoral and peritumoral regions of prostate carcinoma compared to benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Recently, some studies reported the presence of mast cells in various malignancies and their role in tumor growth. The aim of the study was to determine the utility of mast cell numbers in evaluating benign and malignant prostate lesions, and to ascertain whether there are variations in the numbers of mast cells with the Gleason grade. The relationship between mast cell numbers and patient age was also investigated. Retrospectively, 104 prostate specimens were examined for the presence of mast cells. The study group consisted of 57 benign prostatic hyperplasias and 47 prostate carcinomas. The paraffin sections were stained with anti-human mast cell tryptase immunohistologically. The numbers of positively staining cells in five high-power fields were counted, and their mean was calculated. There was no relationship found between mast cell numbers and age statistically. The mean mast cell numbers of the intratumoral region were significantly different from those of the peritumoral region (p = 0.0001). While the difference between benign hyperplasia and the intratumoral region was found to be significant (p = 0.0001), no difference between hyperplasia and the peritumoral region was noted (p = 0.762). There was no statistical difference between Gleason score groups (p = 0.452), and there was no interaction between score groups and intraperitumoral regions (p = 0.355).