Response to sublethal heat treatment of prostatic tumor cells and of prostatic tumor infiltrating T-cells.

Background: To investigate the possibilities offered by high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) in the field of tumor vaccination, we analyzed how prostatic cancer (CaP) cells react towards heat treatment and whether increased access to CaP cells by the immune system would be the result.

Methods: Heat/stress response of CaP cells in situ and of CaP cell lines was analyzed by immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, and Atlas array. A heat-induced change in immune recognition was analyzed functionally using human T-helper (Th)1 and Th2-cytokine release with tumor infiltrating T-lymphocytes (TIL) as responder and autologous CaP cells either heated or untreated as stimulator cells.

Cytokine expression pattern in benign prostatic hyperplasia infiltrating T cells and impact of lymphocytic infiltration on cytokine mRNA profile in prostatic tissue.

The aim of the study is to characterize the type of immune response in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) tissue. BPH tissue-derived T cells (n = 10) were isolated, activated (PMA + ionomycin), and analyzed for intracellular reactivity with anti-IFN-gamma and IL-2, -4, -5, -6, -10, and -13, as well as TNF-alpha and -beta by four-color flow cytometry. Lymphokine release was tested using Th1/Th2 cytokine bead arrays.