Inflammatory infiltration is associated with AR expression and poor prognosis in hormone naïve prostate cancer

Abstract

Background: Tumor microenvironment inflammatory infiltration is proposed as a protumorigenic mechanism for prostate cancer with proinflammatory cytokines stimulating androgen receptor (AR) activity. However, association with patient prognosis remains unclear. This study derives an inflammatory gene signature associated with AR expression and investigates CD3+ and CD8+ T-lymphocyte infiltration association with AR and prognosis. Methods: Gene profiling of inflammatory related genes was performed on 71 prostate biopsies. Immunohistochemistry on 243 hormone-naïve prostate cancers was performed for CD3, CD8, AR, and phosphorylated AR tumor expression. Results: Multiple proinflammatory genes were differentially expressed in association with high AR expression compared with low AR expression including PI3KCA and MAKP8 (adjusted P