DHT Concentrations in Human Prostate Cancer Tissue

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Levels of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) have been measured in prostate tissue from both treated and untreated patients with cancer of the prostate and have been compared with values found in untreated benign prostate hypertrophy (BPH) and a variety of non–androgen target tissues. Average DHT in 17 patients with untreated cancer was 3.2 ng/g compared with an average of 5.0 ng/g in 17 patients with BPH (P<0.01). Non-androgen target tissues averaged 0.93 ng/g and all contained <1.8 ng/g except for bile, a component of which was shown to move with DHT in our thin-layer chromatography system. In prostate cancer tissue from 3 out of 4 estrogen-treated patients, DHT levels were similar to untreated cancer whereas 1 patient had a value resembling non–androgen target tissues. Among 6 other patients previously treated with combined castration and estrogen or castration alone, 2 had prostate DHT concentrations similar to untreated