Virologic and immunologic studies of human prostatic carcinoma

Morphologic, tissue culture, immunologic, and biochemical methods have been used in an attempt to detect and characterize oncogenic viruses or their subviral components in cells derived from human prostatic carcinoma (PrCa) or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Electron microscopy was used to characterize the ultrastructural features of normal and neoplastic prostatic tissue. Examination of specimens of prostatic tissue from 34 patients with PrCa, ten patients with BPH, and three patients with bladder tumor (BT) revealed the presence of particles resembling type-C virus in three cases of PrCa and structures resembling budding type-C virus particles in one case of BPH. Fifty human prostatic tissue specimens have been set in tissue culture, of which 30 have been successfully grown for varying periods of time. Of 20 currently active cultures, nine consist primarily of epithelial cells. Immunofluorescence and mixed hemadsorption tests of cells derived from benign and malignant prostatic tissue and sera derived from patients with PrCa, BPH, BT, and other types of tumors, and from normal donors revealed that sera from patients with PrCa, BPH, or BT contain antibodies to antigens in cells derived from PrCa, BPH, or BT. The nature of these antigen-antibody reactions is under study. Initial biochemical studies have not detected reverse transcriptase in the tissue culture fluid from a small number of sparsely growing PrCa cultures nor specific gene sequences homologous to murine leukemia virus-Rauscher genomic RNA in preparations of either normal or malignant prostatic cell DNA. The results of these preliminary studies have demonstrated the applicability of the techniques employed to the study of the relationship of viruses to human PrCa and have provided a number of promising leads for further investigation.