Aromatization of androstenedione to estrogen by benign prostatic hyperplasia,prostate cancer and expressed prostatic secretions

Summary Human prostatic tissue and expressed prostatic secretions (EPS) efrom patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer were incubated with (1 ³H) androstenedione. The extent of aromatization was determined by measuring the transfer of ³H from the 1 position into water. The amount of ³H₂O recovered corresponds to the estrogens formed. Tissue from 5 patients with BPH yielded 2.13 (±1.05) pmol/mg protein/h while the EPS from the same patients yielded 727 fmol/mg protein/h. In patients with prostate cancer the mean formation of estrogens was 388 fmol/mg protein/h (±75). 4-hydroxyandrostenedione, an aromatase inhibitor, successfully inhibited aromatization in BPH and prostate cancer 53–98%.Part of this paper was presented at the 5th Congress of the European Society for Urological Oncology and Endocrinology, 18–20 August 1986, Edinburgh, UK