Overexpression of MiR-155-5p and increased number of macrophage population in precancerous prostatic disease

Background: Impaired microRNA(miR) regulation and chronic inflammation could transform tumors into carcinoma and cancer by metastasis through cellular and genomic changes. Precancerous lesions have a 33.3 percent chance of becoming cancerous. This study investigated the role of miR-155 related to SOCS1 mRNA and macrophage population in disease progression associated with Benign Prostate Hyperplasia (BPH), High-Grade Prostatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia (HGPIN), and Prostate Adenocarcinoma (PRAD). Health Science Journal of Indonesia Putri et al. 86 Methods: This was a cross-sectional study using three groups of samples, namely BPH, HGPIN, and PRAD. Tissue samples were obtained from TURP Action. The expression of miR-155 was analyzed using real-time qPCR and calculated using the Livak method. The expression of SOCS1 mRNA was analyzed using reverse transcriptase PCR. The macrophage pan-marker, anti-CD68 monoclonal antibody (MoAb), was used to detect macrophage population in tissues by immunohistochemistry. Results: The expression of miR-155 was higher in HGPIN than BPH and PRAD (p=0.14). The expression of SOCS1 mRNA in HGPIN was the lowest among the three samples (p=0.96). There was a negative correlation between miR-155 and SOCS1 mRNA (p=0.02). There was a significant increase in the percentage of the macrophage population in HGPIN (6.03 percent) compared to BPH (0.89 percent) with p=0.00. Conclusion: In this study, there were changes in the percentage of macrophage and miR-155 in HGPIN. The variation in miR-155 expression and the percentage of the macrophage may be caused by epigenetic changes. Therefore, further research is needed to validate these results and understand the possibility of being a biomarker in precancerous disease of the prostate. (Health Science Journal of Indonesia 2020;11(2):85-91)