Transketolase like 1 (TKTL1) expression alterations in prostate cancer tumorigenesis

Prostate cancer (CaP) is the most common nonepidermal cancer in elderly males. Due to its heterogeneity and high variability in regards to clinical outcome and therapeutic response, urologists' handling of this disease remains a challenge. The objective of this study was to assess Transketolase like 1 (TKTL1) expression in benign prostatic tissue, peritumoral tissue and in CaP (in different stages of disease), and its correlation with clinicopathological findings, in order to detect if TKTL1 expression is associated with CaP tumorigenesis.

In total, 100 tissue samples were included: (i) 22 benign specimens, (ii) 46 specimens with nonmetastatic CaP, and (iii) 32 specimens from patients with metastatic CaP. From the tissue microarray slides, we evaluated immunohistochemically the expression of the TKTL1 protein, using the H-score.

The TKTL1 protein expression pattern ranges from a low level in benign prostatic tissue (100 [57.5-105]), moderately low in peritumoral tissue (135.42 [100-195.16]), moderate expression in nonmetastatic CaP (200 [172.19-254.38]) to high in metastatic CaP (300 [222.50-300]). A significant rise of TKTL1 mean expression was seen throughout disease progression. A significant difference was also found in TKTL1 expression between peritumoral tissue and benign tissue.

The results obtained in this study suggest that pentose phosphate pathway and its key enzyme TKTL1 is altered throughout the CaP tumorigenesis, and this pathway merits further investigation.