Androgen receptors (ARn) were assayed in nuclear extracts of prostatic biopsies from 60 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and 82 patients with prostatic cancer (PC), with an exchange assay using heparin extraction, labelling with 3H-R1881, and protamine sulphate precipitation. The content of ARn of BPH biopsies (38 f 34 fmol/mg protein [mean f SD]; n = 70) was not different from that of PC biopsies (39 f 32 fmol/mg protein; n = 115). Biopsies showing essentially normal prostatic tissue had a lower ARn content (12 f 13 fmoUmg protein; n = 6). The content of ARn was independent of the age of the patient and of the histological grade of the carcinomas. A considerable variation in ARn content within tumors of individual patients was found, indicating that ARn are not uniformly distributed over prostatic tissue; ie, cells with high and low receptor content may coexist in different proportions in different regions of the prostate. Therefore, assays on multiple biopsies may be required for a proper estimation of the mean receptor content. The question remains, however, whether the behavior of the tumor is adequately predicted by the mean receptor level or, for instance, by the region with the lowest receptor content.
The content of nuclear androgen receptors (ARn) in prostatic carcinoma biopsies is not predictive for the duration of response of the tumor to endocrine therapy. Recently pre-treatment plasma testosterone has been suggested to be predictive in this respect. Therefore, pre-treatment plasma testosterone (T) and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) levels were studied in 31 patients aged 72 +/- 10 years (range: 45-87) with stage D2 carcinoma of the prostate treated by orchiectomy. In 26 of these patients, the ARn level of the carcinoma was also known (61 +/- 41 fmol/mg protein; range 0-169). Plasma T levels (mean: 13.7 +/- 6.1 nmol/l) varied widely (range: 2.4-25.4), as did plasma SHBG (32.5 +/- 19.3 nmol/l; range 4.4-78.8), and time to progression (TTP; 14.6 +/- 11.2 months; range 1-48). Plasma T was found to be correlated to age (Rs = 0.537; P less than 0.01) and TTP (Rs = 0.4495; P less than 0.02). Tissue ARn and plasma SHBG did not correlate to any of the parameters studied.
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