Research article

Comparative Study of Interleukin- 6 (Il-6) and Tumour Necrosis Factor Alpha (Tnf-Α) Levels in Prostate Cancer and Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Subjects

Abstract

Prostate cancer (PC) is an age-related malignancy that is very common in adult males with a very high morbidity and mortality rate worldwide. Chronic inflammation is thought to play a role in carcinogenesis. Pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tissue necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), have been implicated in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer (PC). Its diagnosis remains a challenge even with a combination of methods. Serum prostate specific antigen (Serum-PSA) is the universally accepted biomarker for PC detection. However, it is neither specific nor confirmatory. The aim of this study was to compare IL-6 and TNF-α levels in PC and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) subjects. This cross-sectional, descriptive, non-random study involved 60 histologically diagnosed PC and 20 BPH subjects attending the Urology Clinic of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH). The Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) technique was used to assay the cytokines (IL-6 and TNF-α). From this study the peak incidence of PC and BPH subjects was observed at 60-69 years with a mean age of 68.31± 7.72 years and 66.5 ± 10.6 years respectively. The observed difference in IL-6 level in the PC and BPH subjects was not statistically significant (P = .6696). However, the mean serum TNF-α level (29.6 ± 3.2pg/ml) was significantly higher in PC subjects when compared to BPH subject levels (25.3 ± 4.7pg/ml) for TNF α. This study has shown that PC subjects have higher level TNF-α and as such it can serve as a differential marker for PC.

Keywords: Prostate cancer, interleukin -6, tumor necrosis factor alpha, serum prostate specific antigen.