Age and Obesity Promote Methylation and Suppression of 5 alpha-Reductase 2: Implications for Personalized Therapy of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

摘要

Purpose: In men with symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia 5 alpha-reductase inhibitors are a main modality of treatment. More than 30% of men do not respond to the therapeutic effects of 5 alpha-reductase inhibitors. We have found that a third of adult prostate samples do not express 5 alpha-reductase type 2 secondary to epigenetic modifications. We evaluated whether 5 alpha-reductase type 2 expression in benign prostatic hyperplasia specimens from symptomatic men was linked to methylation of the 5 alpha-reductase type 2 gene promoter. We also identified associations with age, obesity, cardiac risk factors and prostate specific antigen.