The Contrary Role of Nkx3-1 in Malignant and Benign Prostatic Tissues

Nkx3-1 the homeobox gene (located on chromosome 8p21.2) is an androgen-regulated and mainly prostate-specific gene, which was observed primarily in secretory prostatic benign and neoplastic epithelia, Nkx3.1down-regulation is considered one of the earliest events in prostate cancer initiation. Our study was designed to investigation the role and expression of Nkx3-1 proteins in initiation and development of prostate cancer (PCa) as well as in benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH).This study included sixty tissue were collected from samples of prostate tumors patients, twenty nine of them were diagnosed as PCa and thirty one were recorded as a benign patients. Malignancy patients were divided according to aging and grading. Those patients samples then compared with twelve non-tumors prostate tissues as control group. This study was carried out in Laboratories of the College of Science/ Department of Biology, Wasit University, during period between October 2017 and May 2018. The study of Nkx3-1 expression was done by immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining technique. The results showed highly significant (p?0.01) increasing in expression of Nkx3-1 in prostate cancer patients when compared with benign and control group. Also the result showed significant (p?0.05) correlation between Nkx3-1 expression with overlapping effects of grading. From the results presented, it was concluded that the present study confirms that Nkx3-1 play necessary roles in carcinogenesis and development of prostatic cancer. This study suggests to use Nkx3- as additional biomarker in diagnosis and follow up the treatment of prostatic cancer.