Comparative pathology of benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer

Basic studies on the pathogenesis of prostate disease including hypertrophy and cancer have been difficult due to the lack of suitable animal models. Much effort has been directed to the development of appropriate animal models, and yet many obstacles still remain. Rodents do not develop spontaneous hypertrophy of the prostate, in fact the prostate atrophies with advancing age. Guinea pigs appear to be a good model to study the effect of hormones on the prostate gland. Microinvasive prostatic adenocarcinoma occurs spontaneously in various species of rodents, and can be induced by radiation, hormones and chemical carcinogens. The man and dog appear to be the only mammals which suffer naturally from the pathological processes of the prostate gland associated with aging. We review the currently available models for the study of benign, and malignant prostate disease and assess the strengths and weaknesses each for preclinical investigations.