Immunological microenvironment in prostate cancer: high mast cell densities are associated with favorable tumor characteristics and good prognosis

Fleischmann, Achim; Schlomm, Thorsten; Köllermann, Jens; Sekulic, Nikolina; Huland, Hartwig; Mirlacher, Martina; Sauter, Guido; Simon, Ronald; Erbersdobler, Andreas (2009). Immunological microenvironment in prostate cancer: high mast cell densities are associated with favorable tumor characteristics and good prognosis. Prostate, 69(9), pp. 976-81. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley-Blackwell 10.1002/pros.20948

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BACKGROUND: Number of intratumoral mast cells predicts survival in various cancers. The prognostic significance of such mast cells in surgically treated prostate cancer is unknown. METHODS: Mast cell densities were determined in prostate cancer samples of more than 2,300 hormone-naïve patients using a tissue microarray format in correlation with clinical follow-up data. Mast cells were visualized immunohistochemically (c-kit). All patients were homogeneously treated by radical prostatectomy at a single institution. RESULTS: Mast cells were present in 95.9% of the tumor samples. Median mast cell number on the tissue spot was 9 (range: 0-90; median density: 31 mast cells/mm(2)). High mast cell densities were significantly associated with more favorable tumors having lower preoperative prostate-specific antigen (P = 0.0021), Gleason score (P < 0.0001) and tumor stage (P < 0.0001) than tumors with low mast cell densities. Prostate-specific antigen recurrence-free survival significantly (P = 0.0001) decreased with decline of mast cell density showing poorest outcome for patients without intratumoral mast cells. In multivariate analysis mast cell density narrowly missed to add independent prognostic information (P = 0.0815) for prostate-specific antigen recurrence. CONCLUSION: High intratumoral mast cell density is associated with favorable tumor characteristics and good prognosis in prostate cancer. This finding is consistent with a role of mast cells in the immunological host-defense reaction on prostate cancer. Triggering mast cell activity might expand immunotherapeutic strategies in prostate cancer.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	04 Faculty of Medicine > Service Sector > Institute of Pathology
UniBE Contributor:	Fleischmann, Achim
ISSN:	0270-4137
ISBN:	19274666
Publisher:	Wiley-Blackwell
Language:	English
Submitter:	Factscience Import
Date Deposited:	04 Oct 2013 15:08
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 14:21
Publisher DOI:	10.1002/pros.20948
PubMed ID:	19274666
Web of Science ID:	000266470700008
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/29983 (FactScience: 165596)