Patterns of Cytokine Response in Patients Undergoing Curative Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer

• Main Author: Christensen, Eva
• Other Authors: Bristow, Robert
• Format: Others
• Language: en_ca
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: prostate cancer; cytokine; biomarker; radiation therapy; 0992
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/17157

Ionizing radiation induces specific proteins involved in DNA repair, cell death, inflammation and tissue injury. The radiation response of proteins within a uniform prostate cancer (PCa) radiotherapy (RT) population has been studied to a limited extent. In this thesis, the proteomic responses of patients undergoing curative RT for intermediate-risk PCa were determined for a panel of pro-inflammatory cytokines from pre-RT baseline to last treatment (39 vs. 33 fractions depending on whether the cohort received primary or post-prostatectomy RT respectively). Longitudinal proteomic research is feasible at our institution based on the study design presented herein. Interferon (IFN)-g and interleukin (IL)-6 were significantly increased during RT and these changes followed consistent patterns modeled by linear and quadratic functions respectively. Furthermore, acute gastrointestinal (GI) and genitourinary (GU) toxicities were significantly associated with IL-2 and IL-1 levels respectively during RT. Taken together this research supports cytokines as potential biomarkers of normal tissue radiation response.