COEXPRESSION OF GONADOTROPIC-HORMONES AND THEIR CORRESPONDING FSH-RECEPTOR AND LH CG-RECEPTORS IN THE HUMAN PROSTATE/

BACKGROUND. Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) affects the majority of elderly men, and prostate cancer is the most common male cancer. Pros tatic growth and function are thought to be regulated by steroid hormo nes, primarily androgens and estrogens, but nonandrogenic hormones mus t also be considered. The increasing evidence of para/autocrine functi ons of the gonadotropic glycoprotein-hormones (GPH), their allocation to the superfamily of cystine-knot growth factors, and luteinizing hor mone (LH)/chorionic gonadotropin (CG)-receptor (R) gene expression in nongonadal tissues led us to investigate int aprostatic GPH and GPH-R gene expression. METHODS AND RESULTS. RT-PCR and subsequent Southern h ybridization and/or restriction enzyme analysis of BPH and prostatic a denocarcinoma demonstrated that all three human (h) gonadotropic hormo nes, i.e., follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), LH, and CG, as well as the corresponding FSH-R and LH/CG-R, are transcribed intraprostaticall y. Significant amounts of the alpha and beta subunits of hCG were secr eted by short-term primary cultures of human BPH tissues, as detected by highly sensitive and specific time-resolved immunofluorometric assa ys (IFMAs). CONCLUSIONS. Our data suggest that prostatic-and pituitary -derived GPH act directly on the prostatic gland, particularly FSH via the FSH-R, thereby possibly modulating locally acting key hormones an d growth factors involved in BPH development. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc .