Study On Involvement Of P38MAPK In Cell Apoptosis And Its Effect On Prostatic Carcinogenesis

Background Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) play an important role in cell signal transduction. It is a common pathway and convergent point in cell signal transduction, in which relevant signals out of cell are transmitted to cell nuclear to affect the transcription and expression of genes. Recently, it has been thought that MAPK signal pathway is involved in the regulation of cell proliferation and apoptosis. An imbalance between cell proliferation and apoptosis may play a crucial role in the genesis and development of tumor. At present, the role of each number of MAPK family in the genesis and development of prostate cancer has been attached great importance to.Objective To study the role of p38 in the genesis and development of prostate tumor, We investigated the expression of p38 and MKP, as well as cell proliferation index and apoptosis index in BPH, PIN and Pea tissue, respectively.Method There were 36 prostatectomy specimens, of 36, BPH in 12, PIN in 12 and Pea in 12, respectively. 12 PIN were divided into 6 low grade PIN and 6 high grade PIN. Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the activation of p38, MKP, and PCNA. TUNEL histochemistry was used to detect apoptosis. ANOVA and Spearman rank relation analysis in SPSS 10.0 software were used as the statistic methods, p values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant in bilateral.Results Expression of p38 and MKP, were highest in Pea and significantly higher in PIN compared to BPH, respectively(p<0.05). The cell proliferation index and apoptosis index were greatest in Pea, intermediate in PIN, and lowest in BPH, respectively(p<0.05). In prostate tissues, expression of p38 was inversely related to MKP, and positively to cell apoptosis index, whereas expression of MKP, was inversely related to cell apoptosis index.Conclusions p38 signal pathway is involved in the genesis and development of PIN and Pea. In the process of malignant transformation of prostate epithelium, p38 mainly promotes cell apoptosis against cell proliferation. MKP, inactivate p38 by an inverse feedback and inhibits cell apoptosis, which accelerate the malignant transformation of prostate epithelium. The disruption of balance between cell proliferation and apoptosis underlies the cell kinetics of genesis and development of prostate cancer.