Metastatic lesions from prostate cancer do not express oestrogen and progesterone receptors

Oestrogen receptors (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR) have been reported by several authors in the stromal cells of the human prostate. Controversial results exist on the expression of ER and PR in epithelial cells of the prostate. Some recent publications, in contrast to previous findings, have suggested that these receptors are also present in human prostate cancer cell lines derived from metastatic lesions. The expression of ER and PR in these cell lines has been re-examined to determine their presence in lymph node metastases from patients who did not receive any kind of endocrine therapy and in distant metastases obtained from patients who failed endocrine treatment. ER and PR expression in LNCaP, PC-3, and DU-145 cells was assessed by means of the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, ligand binding assays, and immunohistochemistry. With all the techniques applied, the three cell lines were found to be negative for both ER and PR. Immunohistochemical analyses were performed in four lymph node metastases obtained at radical prostatectomy from patients who did not receive endocrine therapy and in 17 distant metastases obtained at palliative surgery from patients who failed endocrine therapy. All 21 metastases were negative for ER and PR on immunohistochemistry. These results do not support the recently developed concept that receptors for oestrogenic and progestagenic steroids are present in metastases from human prostate cancer.