Reduced Levels of 5-Alpha Reductase 2 in Adult Prostate Tissue and Implications for BPH Therapy
February 2011
in “
The Prostate/The prostate
”
TLDR Some men's prostate tissues have low enzyme levels due to genetic changes, possibly affecting treatment for prostate enlargement.
The study investigated the expression of 5-α reductase 2 (5-AR 2) in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and its potential resistance to 5-AR 2 inhibitors. Using 42 human prostate tissue samples, the researchers found that 29% of benign prostate samples did not express the 5-AR 2 protein. They identified that the promoter region of 5-AR 2 contains a CpG island that is methylated in 39% of the samples, which strongly correlated with the absence of 5-AR 2 protein expression (P = 0.0025). The study concluded that methylation of the 5-AR 2 promoter might explain the low or absent expression of 5-AR 2 in some adult prostate tissues, potentially impacting the efficacy of BPH therapy.
