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Abstract
Prostate cancer (PC) is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in North America and is ranked third
in terms of mortality. After first line treatments, 20-30% of patients with localized disease will
develop biochemical recurrence. Androgen-deprivation therapy is often used as a second line
treatment, but some patients unfortunately progress to the castrate-resistant state, for which no
curative treatment exists, and which is associated with high morbidity (bone metastasis) and a mean
survival of less than two years. PC has a heterogeneous evolution among patients and to date no
prognostic markers exist to identify those with a higher risk of biochemical recurrence, bone
metastasis or castrate-resistant disease.
Many studies have shown that the inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-8 are implicated in PC
progression and the development of castration-resistance. In addition, high serum levels of these
markers are associated with a worse outcome. Previous work has shown that the kinase IKKε is
associated with higher levels of IL-6 and IL-8 in vitro, and that its expression is higher in tissue
samples of more advanced disease.
The first objective was to assess the association between IKKε, IL-6 and IL-8 tissular expression
levels and clinical parameters. Our results suggest that IKKε has prognostic properties in terms of
biochemical recurrence and the development of bone metastasis. No association between IL-6/IL-
8 and the clinical parameters was identified. The second objective was to evaluate the coexpression
of these molecules within the PC epithelium. Our results confirm previous in vitro observations
showing a strong correlation between IKKε, IL-6 and IL-8 expression levels. The third objective
was to compare within the same patients the expression levels of IL-6 and IL-8 in the serum and