FEATURES OF THE EXPRESSION OF MATRICELLULAR GENES (OSTEOPONTIN AND OSTEONECTIN) IN BENIGN AND MALIGNANT TUMORS OF THE PROSTATIC GLAND

Abstract

Summary. Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common oncological diseases in men both in Ukraine and in the world, which determines the need to search for new diagnostic and prognostic markers. According to the data of modern literature, a characteristic feature of malignant growth and progression is the remodeling of the extracellular matrix on the background of an increase in the expression of matricellular proteins (MCP). Aim: to conduct a comparative study of the expression of matricellular genes at the level of mRNA (SPP1 and SPARC) and protein (OPN and ON) in the tissue of benign and malignant tumors of the prostate gland. Objects ОРИГІНАЛЬНІ ДОСЛІДЖЕННЯ 5 4 ОНКОЛОГІЯ • Т. 25 • № 1 • 2023 Одержано: 25.04.2023 and methods: the work is based on the analysis of the results of examination and treatment of 50 patients with stage II–III prostate cancer and 20 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), who were treated during 2015–2021 at the National Cancer Institute of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. The study of the expression of matricellular genes at the level of mRNA and protein in the PCa and BPH tissues was carried out using the methods of real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry, respectively. The bioinformatical study of SPP1 and SPARC expression in the tissue of BPH and PCa was carried out using the сamсАРP resource on the Cambridge Dataset (2015). The analysis of the recurrence-free survival rates of patients with PCa depending on the expression of SPP1 and SPARC was carried out using the PROGgeneV2 (GSE40272 Dataset). Statistical analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism v. 8.00. Results: the analysis of the results of the immunohistochemical study of the MCP established that the PCa tissue is characterized by a high level of OPN and ON. It has been demonstrated that the level of ON expression in the PCa tissue is 2.5 (p < 0.05) times higher compared to BPH tissue. It was found that the level of SPP1 and SPARC in the PCa tissue was 3.9 (p < 0.05) and 28.9 (p < 0.05) times higher compared to the corresponding expression indicators of the studied genes in the tissue of the BPH. It is shown that the rate of recurrence-free 5-year survival decreased by 20.0% (p < 0.05) in patients with PCa with a high level of SPARC mRNA in the tumor tissue. Conclusions: the obtained results indicate the need for further study of the role of MCP genes in the mechanisms of the development of PCa with the aim of using these indicators as markers for the differential diagnosis of the tumor process.