Presence of INFgamma-secreting lymphocytes specific to prostate antigens in a group of chronic prostatitis patients.

MOTRICH RD; MACCIONI M; MOLINA R; TISSERA A; OLMEDO J; RIERA CM; RIVERO VE

CLINICAL IMMUNOLOGY

Elsevier

Lugar: Los Angeles; Año: 2005 vol. 116 p. 149 - 149

1521-6616

p class="abstract">Acute and chronic infectious prostatitis are the best understood of the prostate syndromes, but they are the least frequent. In contrast, although chronic non-infectious prostatitis is the most frequent syndrome, its cause has proved elusive despite years of investigation. In the present study, we analyzed a group of patients with infectious and non-infectious chronic prostatitis in order to search for the presence of a possible autoimmune response to prostate antigens. We demonstrated the presence of lymphocytes able to proliferate in response to known human prostate antigens such as PSA and PAP only in a group of patients with non-infectious chronic prostatitis. We observed that, as in other autoimmune diseases, a proliferative response against two or more autoantigens was a common feature. Moreover, when INFgamma and IL-10 levels were measured in culture supernatants, significantly elevated levels of INFgamma were detected only in samples from patients with posit