THE EXPRESSION AND LOCALIZATION OF BETA-NERVE GROWTH-FACTOR (BETA-NGF) IN BENIGN AND MALIGNANT HUMAN PROSTATE TISSUE - RELATIONSHIP TO NEUROENDOCRINE DIFFERENTIATION

beta-NGF is a determinant of sympathetic innervation and a neural diff erentiation factor. In the present study, we have examined 15 benign p rostate hyperplastic and 15 prostate cancer patients for the expressio n and localisation of beta-NGF by reverse transcription-polymerase cha in reaction (RT-PCR). Western blotting, immunohistochemistry and ELISA . We have correlated the beta-NGF concentrations to prostate morphomet ry and neuroendocrine differentiation. The presence of beta NGF mRNA t ranscripts was confirmed by RT-PCR where a 542 bp product was found wi th specific primers for the human beta-NGF cDNA sequence. The presence of the peptide was also confirmed by Western blot analysis which show ed a protein co-migrating with recombinant human beta-NGF. Our results demonstrata that beta-NGF is localised to prostate epithelium, and th e concentrations of the peptide were not significantly different in ma ligniant (mean +/- s.d., 3100 +/- 1502 pg g(-1) wet weight of tissue) than in benign tissues (1992 +/- 683 pg g(-1), P=0.512). We were howev er, unable to correlate the concentrations of beta-NGF to neuroendocin e differentiation in malignant tissues. Clearly, the present study dem onstrates that beta-NGF is a product of the prostate and may be involv ed in the control of the sympathetic innervation of the human prostate .