The effect of mast cells on the biological characteristics of prostate cancer cells

Aim of the study
To investigate the effects of mast cells on the proliferation, invasion, and metastasis of prostate cancer cells.

Material and methods
The mast cell P815 and prostate cancer LNCaP cells were chosen using a Transwell chamber to construct a two-cell cocultured in vitro model to observe the migration of mast cells to prostate cancer cells.

Results
In the migration experiment, the migration rate of mast cells from the experimental group (%) was 10.167 ±0.833, the mast cell migration rate (%) of the control group was 0.833 ±0.208, and the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). The MTT test showed that the OD value of cells in each group over time increased gradually, and 24 h after LNCaP cells were cocultured with different concentrations of mast cells, the OD value was significantly higher than that of the control group (p < 0.05). QRT-PCR and western blot results showed that, compared with the control group, E-cad expression from the experimental group was significantly weakened; N-cad and vimentin expression increased (p < 0.05), and c-kit and SCF expression from experimental group were significantly higher than that of the control group (p < 0.05). After the addition of c-kit neutralising antibodies, compared with the control group, the mast cell migration rate of experimental group decreased significantly and prostate cancer cell proliferation significantly decreased (p < 0.05).

Conclusions
Mast cells could promote the proliferation of prostate cancer cells and the occurrence of epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT), which could promote the invasion and metastasis of prostate cancer cells.