Androgen depletion activates telomerase in the prostate of the nonhuman primate, Macaca mulatta

作者：Ravindranath N; Ioffe SL; Marshall GR; Ramaswamy S; Plant TM; Dym M^*

来源：Prostate, 2001, 49(1): 79-89.

DOI：10.1002/pros.1120

• prostate
• monkey
• telomerase
• telomere
• testosterone

Background. The activity of telomerase, an enzyme that synthesizes telomeric repeats at the ends of chromosomes, is not detectable in normal human Prostate. However, the majority of human prostate cancers exhibit telomerase activity. Since androgens play a major role in prostate tumorigenesis, we investigated the effect of androgen-depletion on the expression of telomerase activity in the prostate.
Methods. Adult male rhesus monkeys were either bilaterally castrated or subjected to sham surgery (n=5 each). Approximately 6 weeks later, the animals were killed and the different regions of the prostate gland were removed and frozen immediately. Telomerase activity was assayed using the telomeric repeat amplification protocol.
Results. All five regions of the prostate from sham operated control animals failed to exhibit telomerase activity. In the castrated monkey, all regions of the prostate, except for the anterior lobe, expressed high levels of telomerase activity.
Conclusions. Our results indicate that in monkeys, androgen-ablation leads to upregulation of telomerase activity. The negative-regulation of telomerase activity by androgens is probably lost during prostate tumorigenesis.

• 出版日期2001-9-15