Background: Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) are associated with aging and the development and progression of cancer. However, the exact nature of this relationship remains unclear. Our study aimed to investigate the potential of LTL and MDSC as diagnostic biomarkers for prostate cancer while also seeking to deepen our understanding of the relationship of these potential biomarkers to each other. Methods: Our study involved patients undergoing a prostate biopsy. We analyzed the relative LTL in genomic DNA obtained from peripheral blood leukocytes as well as the percentage of MDSC and their subtypes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Our evaluation focused on examining the relationship between LTL and MDSC and pathological diagnoses as well as investigating the correlation between LTL and MDSC levels. Results: In our study of 102 participants, 56 were pathologically diagnosed with localized prostate cancer (cancer group), while 46 tested negative (control group). The cancer group exhibited significantly shorter LTL in comparison to the control group (p= 0.024). Additionally, the cancer group showed a tendency towards a higher percentage of monocytic MDSC (M-MDSC), although this difference did not reach statistical significance (p= 0.056). Our multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that patients with shorter LTL and higher percentages of M-MDSC had a 2.98-fold (95% CI = 1.001–8.869,p= 0.049) and 3.03-fold (95% CI = 1.152–7.977,p= 0.025) increased risk of prostate cancer diagnosis, respectively. There was also a significant negative correlation between LTL and M-MDSC. (r = −0.347,p< 0.001). Conclusions: Our research has established a correlation between LTL and MDSC in patients undergoing biopsy for prostate cancer. Notably, we observed that individuals with localized prostate cancer tend to have shorter LTL and a higher percentage of M-MDSC prior to their diagnosis. These findings suggest that LTL and M-MDSC could potentially serve as adjunctive biomarkers for the early diagnosis of prostate cancer.
背景：白细胞端粒长度（LTL）与髓源性抑制细胞（MDSC）均与衰老及癌症的发生发展相关，但其确切关系尚不明确。本研究旨在探讨LTL与MDSC作为前列腺癌诊断生物标志物的潜力，同时深入探究这些潜在生物标志物之间的相互关系。方法：本研究纳入接受前列腺活检的患者，通过分析外周血白细胞基因组DNA中的相对LTL，以及外周血单个核细胞（PBMC）中MDSC及其亚型的百分比，重点评估LTL、MDSC与病理诊断的关系，并探究LTL与MDSC水平之间的相关性。结果：在102名参与者中，56例经病理诊断为局限性前列腺癌（癌症组），46例活检结果为阴性（对照组）。癌症组的LTL显著短于对照组（p=0.024）。此外，癌症组的单核细胞型MDSC（M-MDSC）百分比呈现升高趋势，但差异未达到统计学显著性（p=0.056）。多因素逻辑回归分析显示，LTL较短和M-MDSC百分比较高的患者，其前列腺癌诊断风险分别增加2.98倍（95% CI=1.001–8.869，p=0.049）和3.03倍（95% CI=1.152–7.977，p=0.025）。LTL与M-MDSC之间呈显著负相关（r=-0.347，p<0.001）。结论：本研究确立了接受前列腺癌活检患者中LTL与MDSC的相关性。值得注意的是，我们观察到局限性前列腺癌患者在确诊前往往表现出较短的LTL和较高的M-MDSC百分比。这些发现提示，LTL与M-MDSC可能作为前列腺癌早期诊断的辅助生物标志物。
肿瘤(癌症)患者之家