Measurement Of Androgen Receptor And CD4～+CD25～+ Regulatory T Cells In Patients With Chronic Abacterial Prostatitis/chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome

Objective: To investigate the associations between changes of sexual hormones and androgen receptor and the occurrence of chronic abacterial prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome(CAP/CPPS);To probe the associations between CAP/CPPS and autoimmune disease .Material and Methods:1. Specific binding capacity of androgen receptor in peripheral leukocytes(AR) was measured by radioligand binding assays in 78 patients with CAP/CPPS and 32 controls, and levels of testosterone(T) and estradiol ( E2 ) were also detected by radioimmunassay.2. 58 patients with CAP/CPPS and 22 controls were studied.Levels of CD4⁺CD25+ T regulatory cells and CD4⁺CD25^high T regulatory cells in peripheral blood were measured by flow cytometry.Results:1. There was no significant difference between the patients and normal controls in the levels of T and E2, but the binding capacity of AR in patients was lower than that in the controls(P<0.01).AR content were (795±79) sites/cell and (781±98) sites/cell in theâ…¢a group andâ…¢b group,respectively.E2/T in the patients was significantly highter than that in controls(P<0.05). E2/T were (8.3±1.7) and (8.1±2.1) in theâ…¢a group andâ…¢b group,respectively. There were negative correlations between the severity of symptoms in the patients and the binding capacity of AR(r=-0.512,P<0.01).2. There was no significant difference between the patients and normal controls in the levels of CD4⁺ T cells and CD4⁺CD25^high T regulatory cells in peripheral blood(P>0.05); The levels of CD4⁺CD25⁺ T regulatory cells in peripheral blood were significantly lower than normal controls(P < 0.05); In addition, no significant correlation was found among the severity of symptoms(CPSI) and the levels of CD4⁺ T cells and CD4⁺CD25⁺ T regulatory cells and CD4⁺CD25^high T regulatory cells in peripheral blood.Conclusion:1,The expression of androgen receptor was down-regulation in the patients with CAP/CPPS which were closely related to the severity of symptoms and E2/T in the patients was significantly highter than that in controls.The results suggest that the symptoms of CAP/CPPS appear to result from down-regulation of AR and the hormonal imbalance,which may be one of the mechanisms related to pathogeny and development of CAP/CPPS.2,The expression of CD4⁺CD25⁺ T regulatory cells was down-regulation in the patients with CAP/CPPS which cause the increasing of autoimmunity may be one of the mechanisms related to pathogeny and development of CAP/CPPS.