Volume 25 , Issue 1 , June 2023 , Pages 139-147
Hawar Sabah 1 ; Dereen Najat 1
1 University of Sulaimani, department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Qlyasan new campus, Sulaimani, Iraq
Objective: the main aim of this study was to assess the role of prolactin in prostate cancer
using modern immunoassay methods. Prolactin assays in the past were subject to pitfalls
from hook effect and macroprolactinemia; only few previous studies accounted for these
pitfalls, therefore and to obtain accurate results, we thought to measure prolactin with
modified modern methods. This study also investigated the association of serum prolactin
levels with prostate specific antigen and selected steroid and pituitary hormones in
prostate cancer patients. Subjects and methods: serum was withdrawn from newly
pretreated 50 prostate cancer patients and 30 controls. The following parameters were
studied using Roche-immunoassay analyzers: prolactin, total (PSA), total testosterone,
free testosterone, (SHBG), (DHEA), (E2), progesterone, (FSH), (LH) and albumin; to
account for macroprolactinemia, serum samples were pretreated with poly ethylene
glycol 6000. SPSS statistical software used to perform students’ t test and Pearson’s
correlation for association studies. P value of < 0.05 was considered significant
throughout the study. Results: 64% of prostate cancer patients had normal prolactin
levels (10.04 ±0.039ng/ml), 22% had raised serum prolactin and had 14% low prolactin
levels, the difference in prolactin levels between prostate cancer and control group was
not significant. Mean PSA levels were ((234.087 ± 522.695ng/ml) in prostate cancer
patients, which was significantly higher in the prostate cancer group when compared to
the control group (1.25 ± 1.39ng/ml), P ≤ 0.01. Prolactin was not associated with PSA
levels or with any of the sex and pituitary hormones studied. Conclusions: although the
majority of prostate cancer patients had normal serum prolactin levels, 22% of the study
participants had hyperprolactinemia, patients with higher serum prolactin levels had high
Gleason score of 9 or higher and were at stage four, indicating a possible role of higher
circulating prolactin at advanced cancer stages.