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Activation of innate anti-viral immune response genes in symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia

Genes & Immunity volume 13, pages 566–572 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is the most common urologic disease in men over age 50. Symptoms include acute urinary retention, urgency to urinate and nocturia. For patients with severe symptoms, surgical treatment is used to remove the affected tissue. Interestingly, the presence of histologic BPH does not always correlate with symptoms. The molecular basis of symptomatic BPH and how it differs from asymptomatic BPH is unknown. Investigation into the molecular players involved in symptomatic BPH will likely give insight into novel therapeutic, and potentially preventative, targets. We determined the expression of genes involved in the innate anti-viral immune response in tissues from patients undergoing surgery to alleviate the symptoms of BPH, and compared the results with prostate tissue with histologic BPH, but from patients with few urinary issues (asymptomatic BPH). We found that expression of complement factor I, apolipoprotein B mRNA-editing enzyme, catalytic polypeptide-like protein 3G, oligoadenylate synthetase 2 and interferon-induced tetratricopeptide 1, four genes whose protein products are involved in the innate anti-viral immune response, was significantly transcriptionally upregulated in symptomatic BPH. Additionally, we observe hypomethylation and concomitant expression of ancient retroviral-like sequences, the long interspersed nuclear element 1 retrotransposons, in symptomatic BPH when compared with normal prostate tissue. These findings merit further investigation into the anti-viral immune response in symptomatic BPH.

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Acknowledgements

Thank you to Dr Saumendra Sarkar for helpful scientific discussion. Special thanks to Jennifer Gregg and Katherine Semmler for insightful suggestions. Thank you to the University of Pittsburgh HSTB for the symptomatic and asymptomatic BPH specimens. AAM and this work were funded by the T32 post-doctoral fellowship NIHT32DK007774. DOK, DJB and JLC are funded by NIHR01CA138444 and KMS by DOD Award PC101949. The US Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, 820 Chandler Street, Fort Detrick MD 21702-5014 is the awarding and administering acquisition office. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the government, and no official endorsement should be inferred. This work was funded by the University of Pittsburgh Urologic Training Program for Scientists T32 5T32DK007774-12, Cancer Center Support Grant P30CA047904 and RO1CA138444.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    A A Madigan, K M Sobek, J L Cummings, W R Green, D J Bacich & D S O’Keefe

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  1. A A Madigan
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  2. K M Sobek
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  3. J L Cummings
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  5. D J Bacich
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  6. D S O’Keefe
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Correspondence to D S O’Keefe.

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Madigan, A., Sobek, K., Cummings, J. et al. Activation of innate anti-viral immune response genes in symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia. Genes Immun 13, 566–572 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/gene.2012.40

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