Objective: To investigate the correlation between the expressions of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in prostate cancer (PCa) and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and to determine if hTERT was correlated with VEGF-promoted tumor cell proliferation in prostate cancer.
Materials and methods: Immunohistochemistry was used to analyze the expressions of hTERT and VEGF in 60 cases of PCa and 60 cases of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Then their correlation in PCa was analyzed by Spearman correlative analysis.
Results: The expressions of hTERT were detected in 38 cases of PCa and 10 cases of BPH. The expressions of VEGF were detected in 46 cases of PCa and 28 cases of BPH. The expressions of hTERT and VEGF in PCa were significantly higher than those in BPH (P < 0.05). As a result of correlation analysis, it was found that with an increase of the expression of VEGF, the expression of hTERT also increased in PCa. Significant correlation was observed between the expressions of hTERT and VEGF in PCa (r = 0.8333, P < 0.05). But there was no significant correlation between the expressions of hTERT and VEGF in BPH (r = 0.3156, P > 0.05).
Conclusions: All experiences above indicate that hTERT was one of the important proteins in the proliferation-promoting effect of VEGF on tumor cells in PCa.