F. Hernández y Juan F. Madrid. Universidad de Murcia. Departamento de Biología Celular e Histología
Abstract
We examined the distribution of CD1a+ cells
and CD8+ and CD4+ T lymphocytes in prostate cancer
(PCa) and correlated these with clinicopathological
parameters. We also investigated whether the
distribution of these cells was related to the expression
of the cell membrane protein B7-H3, a putative negative
regulator of the immune response expressed on PCa
cells.
A cohort of 151 PCa patients treated with radical
prostatectomy (RP) was followed prospectively from
1985 until 2006 with a median follow-up of 9 years.
Whole-mount sections of PCa specimens were
immunostained to identify immune cells.
A low number of CD1a+ cells was significantly
associated with a high Gleason score and high
pathological stage of pT3. The number of CD1a+ cells
correlated significantly with the number of intratumoral
and stromal CD8+ and stromal CD4+ lymphocytes.
Kaplan-Meier analysis showed a tendency toward
impaired biochemical progression-free survival in
patients with few CD1a+ cells within their RP
specimens. The expression of B7-H3 correlated
inversely with the number of CD1a+ cells and
intratumoral CD4+ lymphocytes; there was a trend for a
similar inverse relationship between B7-H3 expression
and the number of CD8+ lymphocytes.
Our findings suggest that high-grade prostate
carcinoma cells manipulate the immune system and that these changes contribute to the mechanism underlying
tumor escape from immune surveillance