ANTIOXIDANT ENZYMES IN MALIGNANT PROSTATE CELL-LINES AND IN PRIMARY CULTURED PROSTATIC CELLS

The antioxidant enzymes catalase, glutathione reductase(GR), glutathio ne S-transferase(GST), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and superoxide di smutase (SOD) were determined in the androgen-responsive LNCaP and and rogen-nonresponsive PC-3 and DU 145 cells as well as in prostatic epit helial cell cultures of benign and malignant human prostatic tissue. T here were no differences between the enzyme activities of the human pr imary cell cultures from cancerous tissue and their normal counterpart s. The enzyme activities of the three permanent cell lines were either higher (SOD, catalase, GR) or lower (GST, GPx) than in the primary ce ll cultures. In LNCaP cells catalase and GR were significantly higher, GST, in contrast, was significantly lower than in PC-3 and DU 145 cel ls. GST in PC-3 and DU 145 cells, and SOD in all the three cell lines showed no significant differences. Catalase, GPx and GR values were si gnificantly different in the three permanant cell lines. The different enzymatic equipment of the prostate cancer cell lines provides the ba sis for experimental testing of new concepts of cancer treatment with the help of systematic modulations of the antioxidant defence systems in prostate cancer. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.