Estrogen binding and estrogen receptor activity in the human prostate: a preliminary report

Assay of estrogen receptor activity in prostates from patients who ranged in age from 22 to 78 years and had not received any previous hormonal therapy was carried out by incubation of cytosols with (3)H-estradiol in the presence and absence of excess, nonradioactive estradiol. Hyperplastic prostatic tissues were used in the study. The kinetics of each reaction were studied and analysis of the data revealed 3.4 to 35.7 femtomoles of receptor protein per mg of cytosol protein; the dissociation constants obtained from a Scatchard plot ranged from 1.1 × 10(-10) to 1.2 × 10(-8)M.The small number of patients prevents realistic quantitative assessment of the apparent estrogen binding activity demonstrated in these preliminary studies, but the qualitative identification of such activity provides possible grounds for further insight into the hormonal mechanisms in the pathophysiology of prostatic diseases and of their responses to endocrine therapy.