POLYAMINES IN PROSTATE CANCER: THE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE AGGRESSIVENESS OF TUMORS AND THE RISK OF DISEASE PROGRESSION

Abstract

Summary. Altered metabolism is one of the key molecular characteristics of prostate cancer (PCa). The search for new tissue biomarkers that could be used for diagnosis, assessment of aggressiveness and risk of progression of PCa is an urgent problem. In this regard, polyamines (PA) — spermine (Spn), spermidine, putrescine — substances necessary for cell proliferation and growth deserve special attention. Aim: to investigate PA levels in postoperative and biopsy specimens of benign and malignant human prostate tumors to determine the potential for their use for more accurate differential diagnosis, assessment of the aggressiveness of PCa and the risk of disease progression. Object and methods: the study was conducted on 120 postoperative samples from patients with PCa (n = 100) and with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BHP, n = 20), as well as on 40 samples obtained in multifocal trepanbiopsy of prostate (20 samples of malignant tissue and 20 samples of benign tumor tissue). The method of highperformance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to determine PA. Statistical processing of the results was carried out by the methods of variational statistics using standard licensed computer programs STATISTICA 6.0, Microsoft Excel. The significance of the differences between indicators in different groups was assessed using the Student’s t-test. Differences were considered significant at p < 0.05. Spearman’s correlation coefficients were calculated to identify correlative relationships between the studied indicators. Results: it was established that in prostatic hyperplasia, PA levels are significantly higher than those in malignant tumors of the prostate. The most significant difference between PCa and BHP was observed for Spn. The relationship between the level of Spn and the histological evaluation of the differentiation of the PCa according to the Gleason Score and the risk of disease progression was established. Conclusions: the inverse relationship of Spn levels with the degree of differentiation of tumors according to the Gleason Score and the risk of disease progression indicate the participation of spermine in the formation of the aggressiveness of prostate cancer and demonstrate the perspective of its use as an additional tissue marker for the differential diagnosis of prostate tumors, assessment of the malignancy of prostate cancer and the risk of disease progression.