Androgen receptor content of normal and hyperplastic human prostate.

In an effort to determine whether human benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is characterized by an increase in androgen receptor content, the levels of nuclear and cytosolic androgen receptors were quantitated in normal prostatic tissue obtained from five young men (mean age /+- SEM, 26 +/- 3 yr) and in hyperplastic (periurethral) and peripheral prostatic tissues obtained from nine older men (mean age, 62 +/- 2 yr). There was no significant difference between the cytosolic or nuclear androgen receptor content of the hyperplastic, peripheral, or normal prostatic tissue. Thus, in this study we were unable to identify an increase in androgen receptor content in BPH. These findings fail to support the hypothesis that increases in androgen receptor content are involved in the pathogenesis of human BPH.