The Activation status of STAT3/IL-6/AKT signaling pathways in Human Prostate Cells

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the status of STAT3/IL-6/AKT axis signaling in prostate cells from patients with Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) and from those having Prostate Cancer (PC) by histochemistry staining analysis and also to look for possible correlation of AKT activation with IL-6 and STAT3 expression in BPH and PC. For this reason, Immunohistochemical analysis of IL-6, Gp130, pSTAT3 (Tyr705) and pAKT (Ser473) were carried out in 25 samples of BPH and in 16 samples of PC. Results showed that Immunoreactivity to IL-6 was consistently observed in the stroma compartment of BPH and in the cytoplasm of epithelial cells of PC samples. Moreover, pAKT was mainly expressed in the membrane and in the cytoplasm of PC compared to BPH. Similarly Immunoreactivity for pSTAT3 (Tyr705) was found in the stroma and in the nucleus of epithelial and tumor cells. The expression’s analysis status of the STA3/IL-6/AKTaxis in BPH and PC revealed that positive profile (IL-6+, pSTAT3+) correlated with pAKT (Ser473) expression, whereas patients with the positive profile (IL-6+, pAKT +) were also positive for Gp130 and pSTAT3(Tyr705). These findings suggest that IL-6/AKT axis could be one of the mechanisms that activate STAT3 by facilitating inflammatory cell migration in BPH and advance cancer and promote cell growth in PC. Thereby, results found in this work provide a basis for future clinical investigations of the prostate pathologies.