Is Hormonal Induction of Prostate Carcinogenesis Due to Declining Androgens in Late Life and/or Increased Estrogen in Early Life; Annual rept. 1 Jan 2006-31 Dec 2007

摘要

This study aims to identify if exposure to estrogen during the neonatal period increases the sensitivity of the prostate to hormonal induction of malignant and pre-malignant lesions in the adult. Significant progress had been made and it has been demonstrated that co-administration of high concentration of testosterone and estradiol can induce carcinogenesis in the prostate of mice including pathologies ranging from hyperplasia to dysplasia and carcinoma in situ. Comparison of the prostates of wild-type and estrogen deficient ArKO mice has shown that although both develop focal dysplastic pathologies in discrete sites the estrogen-deficient ArKO prostate shows a significantly reduced incidence of aberrant pathology compared to that of normal animals. This strongly suggests that exposure to increased estrogen increases the risk of developing prostate cancer.