Estrogen receptors and clinical correlations with human prostatic disease

Abstract

Measurement of estrogen binding in human prostate using high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) revealed the presence of cytosolic estrogen receptors (ER) both in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and adenocarcinoma. Receptor concentrations correlated with several histopathologic features in the specimens analyzed. Estrogen receptor levels generally were higher in BPH than in cancer specimens although there was a subgroup of patients with poorly differentiated carcinoma with levels higher than those of BPH, HPLC can be used for measuring ER in 50 microliters of cytosol, and thus needle biopsy specimens will be analyzed routinely for ER with this micromethod.