Hu Wenxue, Qian Yunjuan, Yu Feng, Liu Wei, Wu Yanhua, Fang Xiaowu, Hao Wenke
Guangdong Academy of Medical Science, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Provincial Institute of Geriatrics, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510080, P.R. China.
Oncol Lett. 2015 Sep;10(3):1390-1396. doi: 10.3892/ol.2015.3400. Epub 2015 Jun 19.
Recent studies have revealed that alternatively activated macrophages (AAMs) are involved in tumor progression. However, the effect of AAMs on the metastasis of prostate cancer is poorly understood. In the present study, the prostate tissues of 42 patients with prostate adenocarcinoma (PCa) were used in the analysis of tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) and AAMs by immunofluorescence. The patients were followed up for 5 years. The associations of TAMs and AAMs with the clinicopathological features and outcome in these cases were evaluated. Immunofluorescent analysis indicated that the mean number of TAMs (CD68-positive cells) in the prostate tissues of PCa patients with metastasis [45.29±7.25 cells/high-power field (HPF)] was significantly higher compared with that of PCa patients without metastasis (33.57±5.25 cells/HPF; P<0.01). The mean numbers of AAMs (CD68- and CD206-positive cells) in the tissues of PCa patients with and without metastasis were 29.43±5.68 and 9.14±5.29 cells/HPF, respectively. In addition, the percentage of AAMs (number of AAMs/number of TAMs) was 65.11±9.68 and 27.32±7.85% in patients with and without metastasis, respectively. The differences in the number and percentage of AAMs between the two groups were statistically significant (P<0.01). The number and percentage of AAMs was positively correlated with tumor grade and serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level. Univariate analysis indicated that the level of PSA, Gleason score, metastatic status, T grade, number of TAMs, number of AAMs and percentage of AAMs were predictors of the overall survival. Furthermore, multivariate analyses revealed that Gleason score, level of PSA and number of TAMs were predictors for overall survival rate. These results indicate that TAMs and AAMs may be important in the metastasis of PCa, and that TAMs and AAMs may be used as potential biomarkers of poor prognosis in late-stage PCa patients.
近期研究表明，交替活化巨噬细胞（AAMs）参与肿瘤进展。然而，AAMs对前列腺癌转移的影响尚不清楚。在本研究中，采用免疫荧光法对42例前列腺腺癌（PCa）患者的前列腺组织进行肿瘤相关巨噬细胞（TAMs）和AAMs分析。对患者进行了5年随访。评估了这些病例中TAMs和AAMs与临床病理特征及预后的相关性。免疫荧光分析表明，发生转移的PCa患者前列腺组织中TAMs（CD68阳性细胞）的平均数量[45.29±7.25个细胞/高倍视野（HPF）]显著高于未发生转移的PCa患者（33.57±5.25个细胞/HPF；P<0.01）。发生转移和未发生转移的PCa患者组织中AAMs（CD68和CD206阳性细胞）的平均数量分别为29.43±5.68和9.14±5.29个细胞/HPF。此外，发生转移和未发生转移患者中AAMs的百分比（AAMs数量/TAMs数量）分别为65.11±9.68%和27.32±7.85%。两组之间AAMs数量和百分比的差异具有统计学意义（P<0.01）。AAMs的数量和百分比与肿瘤分级和血清前列腺特异性抗原（PSA）水平呈正相关。单因素分析表明，PSA水平、Gleason评分、转移状态、T分级、TAMs数量、AAMs数量和AAMs百分比是总生存的预测因素。此外，多因素分析显示，Gleason评分、PSA水平和TAMs数量是总生存率的预测因素。这些结果表明，TAMs和AAMs可能在PCa转移中起重要作用，并且TAMs和AAMs可能作为晚期PCa患者预后不良的潜在生物标志物。
