Evaluation of plasma interleukin-8 concentration in patients with prostate cancer and benign prostate hyperplasia.

BACKGROUND: Prostate specific antigen (PSA) has been used as a screening test for the early detection of prostate cancer (PC) for many years. Although the introduction of PSA test led to a considerable increase in reported prostate cancer cases, there is still some controversy over the sensitivity and specificity of this marker in distinguishing PC patients from those with benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH), the most common benign prostate condition. OBJECTIVE: An attempt is made to elucidate if the plasma level of Interleukin 8 (IL-8) could be used effectively as a marker for the detection of prostate cancer. METHODS: Plasma levels of IL-8 and PSA were measured in two groups of 40 BPH and PC patients using enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA) and radioimmunoassay (RIA) techniques, respectively. In addition IL-8 levels in PC3 and DU145 cell line supernatants were measured by ELISA technique. RESULTS: The concentration of IL-8 in the plasma of PC patients was not significantly higher than the BPH subjects. Although, a correlation between plasma IL-8 concentration and the Gleason score of PC patients was found, no indicated correlation was detected between the concentration of IL-8 or PSA and age of the patients in both groups. DU145 and PC3 cell lines produced and secreted IL-8 in the media. CONCLUSION: Data of this investigation collectively conclude no correlation between IL-8 concentration in PC and BPH patients.