Scimeca Manuel, Bonfiglio Rita, Varone Fabiana, Ciuffa Sara, Mauriello Alessandro, Bonanno Elena
Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Rome, 00133, Italy.
IRCCS San Raffaele, Rome, 00166, Italy.
Microsc Res Tech. 2018 Jul;81(7):745-748. doi: 10.1002/jemt.23031. Epub 2018 Apr 6.
The main aim of this study was to investigate putative correlation between the formation of prostate calcifications and the presence of cancer cells showing the ultrastructural and morphological aspects of osteoblasts. To this end, 40 prostate biopsies of prostate cancer were enrolled and investigated from histological, immunohistochemical, and ultrastructural point of view. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to propose a new cell type related to the ectopic calcifications in prostate tissue, the prostate osteoblast-like cells (POLCs). Although our data require further investigations about the molecular mechanisms of both POLCs Cells generation and calcification formation, this study can open new and interesting prospective in the management of prostate cancer patients. In fact, if our data will be validated in large-cohort studies, the presence of POLCs Cells and/or prostate calcifications could become a poor negative prognostic marker for cancer occurrence due to the correlation between the presence of POLCs Cells and epithelial to mesenchymal transition phenomenon.
本研究的主要目的是调查前列腺钙化的形成与显示成骨细胞超微结构和形态特征的癌细胞的存在之间的假定相关性。为此，从组织学、免疫组织化学和超微结构角度，纳入并研究了40例前列腺癌的前列腺活检样本。据我们所知，这是第一项提出与前列腺组织中异位钙化相关的新细胞类型——前列腺成骨样细胞（POLCs）的研究。尽管我们的数据需要进一步研究POLCs细胞生成和钙化形成的分子机制，但本研究可为前列腺癌患者的管理开辟新的有趣前景。事实上，如果我们的数据在大型队列研究中得到验证，由于POLCs细胞的存在与上皮-间质转化现象之间的相关性，POLCs细胞和/或前列腺钙化的存在可能成为癌症发生的不良阴性预后标志物。
