BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancer types both in western and eastern countries, involving mostly elder men. The mechanisms underlying the prostate cancer development remain unclear. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is the only well accepted marker for prostate cancer diagnosis and prognosis. The diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer are facing big challenges. Here, we evaluated the expression of Dipeptidyl peptidase IV (CD26/DPPIV) and C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4), two known cancer-related molecules but without clear data on prostate cancer population, and their correlation with clinical parameters in prostate cancer tissue array. To explore the correlation of CD26 and CXCR4 expression in prostate carcinoma and their relationship with clinical parameters. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We immunohistochemically stained the tissue array containing samples from 36 cases with prostate cancer with CD26 and CXCR4 antibodies. Then we analyzed the expression of CD26 and CXCR4 and its relationship with clinical parameters. We used immunohistochemical staining to evaluate the expression of CD26 and CXCR4 in a set of tissue array containing 36 cases of prostate cancers and eight peritumoral normal prostatic tissues. The data were statistically analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 16.0 software. The difference between parameters was compared with nonparametric test and correlation analysis was performed with Spearman test. P < 0.05 was considered as significant. RESULTS: We found both CD26 and CXCR4 expression were higher in cancer tissue than in normal tissues. CD26 and CXCR4 levels were correlated with each other. Moreover, CD26 was correlated with PSA level, tumor residue, cancer stage, and tumor size in the studied samples. CONCLUSION: Our data indicate that CD26 may be a good indicator for cancer behaviors of prostate cancer in clinic.
