PEYRONIES-DISEASE IS ASSOCIATED WITH AN INCREASE IN TRANSFORMING GROWTH-FACTOR-BETA PROTEIN EXPRESSION

Purpose: Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) has been implicate d in many chronic fibrotic conditions such as pulmonary and hepatic fi brosis. We postulated that TGF-beta may play a role in the pathogenesi s of Peyronie's disease.Materials and Methods: Tissues from the tunica albuginea of 30 Peyronie's disease patients (study group) and from 6 patients without Peyronie's disease, who had undergone penile prosthes is surgery for organic impotence (control group), were subjected to hi stological examination using Hart and trichrome stains and Western blo tting for the detection of TGF-beta protein expression. Results: The r esults of these experiments demonstrate that all tissue from Peyronie' s disease patients showed a variety of histological changes of the tun ica, ranging from chronic inflammatory cellular infiltration to comple te calcification and ossification of the tissues. The most prominent c hanges observed in the majority of patients were focal or diffused ela stosis, fenestration and disorganization of the collagen bundles. TGF- beta 1 protein expression was detected in 26 patients (86%), while onl y 7 (23%) and 5 (17%) patients showed TGF-beta 2 and TGF-beta 3 protei n expression, respectively. One patient in the control group showed fi brosis of the tunica albuginea and protein expression of TGF-beta 1 an d TGF-beta 2. This patient had undergone surgery for the revision of h is prosthesis twice. Five patients from the control group showed norma l histological patterns of the tunica albuginea and no protein express ion for TGF-beta 1, TGF-beta 2 and TGF-beta 3. Conclusions: TGF-beta 1 protein expression is significantly associated with Peyronie's diseas e, which may provide a new insight and the potential for the preventio n and treatment of this disease.