Estrogen receptor beta expression in human prostate tissue

Estrogen receptor subtype beta (ER beta) is highly expressed in rat prostat e epithelium, but its presence in human prostate needs to he confirmed. Her e we investigated the expression of ER beta in five benign (normal and/or h yperplastic) and 10 malignant (Gleasons' score 2-7) prostate tissue specime ns using immunohistochemistry. Immunohistochemistry was performed on formal in-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections, using a commercially available ER beta polyclonal antibody developed against the C-terminal amino acid re sidue. Nuclear ER beta expression was found in the nuclei of glandular epit helium of benign prostate tissue specimens: faint nuclear ER beta positivit y was also present in a few stromal cells around normal epithelium. Nuclear ER beta specific immunostaining was undetectable in all prostate cancer se ctions. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.