Correlation of estrogen and androgen receptor status in prostatic disease measured by high pressure liquid...

To further characterize human prostatic estrogen receptors (ER) determined by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC), we checked our procedure by which we nullify estrogen binders (including testosterone binding globulin, TeBG) other than ER by preincubation of cytosols with dihydrotestosterone (DHT). We also showed that the ER exhibited ligand specificity and that ER is present in BPH nuclear extract at 10-fold its concentration in the corresponding cytosols. Of seven prostates with localized cancer determined preoperatively, only 3 showed localization; ER concentration in the cancer parts was lower than in the corresponding surrounding BPH. A total of 22 specimens were evaluated for ER and androgen receptors (AR). Statistically, AR had higher values than ER but there was no correlation between the corresponding AR and ER for each tissue.