A systematic review on the effects of leptin on the development of benign prostatic hyperplasia

Abstract

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a debilitating disease commonly affected in elderly men. Obesity is an established risk factor for the development of BPH. Leptin, an appetite-regulating hormone, is associated with obesity and has been suggested to play a role in the proliferation, migration, and invasion of various cancer tissues. However, there were still insufficient studies that systematically review the existing literature on leptin and its effects on the prostate's benign tumour. Hence, the purpose of the present article was to conduct a systematic literature review to investigate the role of leptin and its receptor in the development of BPH. This review article is guided by the publication standard PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses). We selected the published reports using three leading databases, namely PubMed, Scopus, and Science Direct. Two hundred and seven papers were retrieved, 24 eligible studies identified, 16 of these were included after the quality appraisal. This review has four main themes based on the thematic analysis: 1) serum leptin level 2) leptin tissue expression 3) leptin receptor expression and 4) serum leptin and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level. In summary, most of the studies showed that serum leptin and leptin expression on tissue do not correlate with BPH development, its receptors do not exhibit a clear association with BPH progression and there was no association between leptin level and PSA. However, we observed that the pool of data on this issue is still limited. More studies are required to explore leptin's role as a potential biomarker of BPH and uncover its use in the therapeutic arena.