The Experimental Study Of Relationships Of Androgen And Estrogen To BFGF And TGFβ2 In Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Etiology

Both of androgen (A) and estrogen (E) have enhanced actions in benign prostatic hyperplasia(BPH) tissues. Their effects to prostatic cells are indirect, while growth factors are direct mediator. Two growth factors have increased expressions in BPH: basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and transforming growth factor 13 2 (TGFI3 2). Their increased expressions are supposed to be related to enhanced actions of A and E, but this hypothesis needs proof by experiments. This paper intends to explore the relations of these two sex hormones and these two growth factors in BPH etiology. We observed the growth of rat prostates after treatment with A and E. Moreover, we cultured human prostatic stromal cells, treated them with A and E, and then observed cell proliferation and differentiation and the expressions of bFGF and TGFf3 2. Materials and Methods: (1) 30 male Sprague-Dawley rats were castrated and administered subcutaneously dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and estradiol (E2). Changes of rat prostate masses and histological characters were observed. (2) Cultured prostatic stromal cells derived from BPH patients were treated with DHT and E2, cell proliferations were observed by MTT. The expressions of bFGF and TGFJ3 2 were observed with immunocytochemistry and RT-PCR. And the relation- ships of smoothelin to two growth factors were observed. Results: (1) DHT could stimulate rat prostate growth, and epithelial hyperplasia was significant. E2 could not stimulate rat prostate growth, but it had a synergistic action with DHT. (2) Human prostatic stromal cells were successfully cultured from 11 BPH patients. Both DHT and E2 could stimulate the proliferation of human prostatic stromal cells. Treated with DHT, bFGF expressions increased significantly, while 1GW 2 expressions showed little change. Treated with E2, TGF13 2 expressions increased significantly, while bFGF expressions showed little change. Treated with DHT plus E2, both bFGF and TGW 2 expressions increased. Moreover, a positive correlation between TGFI3 2 and smoothelin was observed in this experiment. Conclusion: (1) The effects of E to animal prostates varies from species. (2) As for human prostatic stromal cells, A can upregulate bFGF expression, while E can upregulate T0FJ32 expression. The increased smoothelin expression may result from the increased TGF13 2 expression.