The human androgen receptor is a 110 kDa protein

The androgen receptor in human prostate carcinoma cells (LNCaP) has been studied after in situ photolabeling with [3H]R1881. Sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis of whole cell extracts revealed the presence of two specifically labeled proteins of 110 kDa and 43 kDa. Both photolabeled proteins were stable in cell homogenates and generated different chymotryptic maps, suggesting that the two proteins were different. From ligand binding specificity studies could be concluded that the 110 kDa protein represents the androgen receptor. The 43 kDa protein showed binding specificity only for R1881. Both photolabeled proteins were recovered from LNCaP nuclei, but the 43 kDa protein showed a relatively higher affinity for nuclei than the 110 kDa protein. The function of this protein is unknown. It is concluded that the human androgen receptor is a protein with a molecular mass of 110 kDa.