Journal of Andrology Email Content Delivery
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Habenicht, U. F.
Right arrow Articles by el Etreby, M. F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Habenicht, U. F.
Right arrow Articles by el Etreby, M. F.

Journal of Andrology, Vol 12, Issue 6 395-402, Copyright © 1991 by The American Society of Andrology

REVIEW

Rationale for using aromatase inhibitors to manage benign prostatic hyperplasia. Experimental studies

U. F. Habenicht and M. F. el Etreby
Research Laboratories of Schering AG, Berlin, Germany.

Today, human benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is considered primarily to be a disease of the stroma, in which estrogens are thought to play a considerable causative or permissive role. The growing incidence of BPH with increasing age coincides with a shift in the androgen:estrogen ratio in favor of estrogens, not only in terms of serum hormone values, but also in the prostate itself. Furthermore, evidence has been provided for a preferential accumulation of estrogens in the stroma of human hyperplastic tissue, and the presence of an estrogen receptor satisfying the classical criteria of high affinity and low capacity has been demonstrated. Also, animal studies have emphasized the potential role of estrogens in the pathogenesis of BPH. Experimentally, stimulation of the stroma, particularly of smooth muscle, can be induced by aromatizable substrates, such as androstenedione, in the prostates of beagles and cynomolgus monkeys. These effects can be antagonized by aromatase inhibitors, such as atamestane. In addition, the increase in intraprostatic estrogen concentrations and immunohistochemically detectable estrogen receptor content induced by androstenedione in intact dogs is completely reversed by simultaneous treatment with atamestane. In conclusion, clinical data, as well as that from animal models, emphasize an important role for estrogens in the development of BPH. Estrogen deprivation might, therefore, represent a useful treatment for human BPH.


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J EndocrinolHome page
K. T Gray, J. L Short, E. R Simpson, and S. Ventura
The effects of targeted deletion of the aromatase enzyme on prostatic contractile responses to noradrenaline in mice
J. Endocrinol., December 1, 2007; 195(3): 495 - 502.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 1991 by The American Society of Andrology.