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5α‐REDUCTASE ACTIVITY IN HUMAN PROSTATE CANCER IS RELATED TO THE HISTOLOGICAL DIFFERENTIATION OF THE TUMOUR

We have measured the activities of two androgen metabolizing enzymes in tissue obtained from thirty‐nine patients with carcinoma of the prostate (CaP). The enzyme activities were correlated to the histological differentiation of the tumours based on the Gleason Score and also compared to the activities measured in fourteen age matched patients with nodular prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Although the mean values for the 5α‐reductase in CaP (9·29 ± 1·47 pmol/mg protein/30 min) were found to be significantly lower than the corresponding values in BPH (16·26 ± 3·04 pmol/mg protein/30 min) (P < 0·05), there were nonetheless significant differences within the cancer group and these were totally dependent on the degree of differentiation of the tumour. A progressively suppressed enzyme activity was measured as the carcinomatous tissue became more anaplastic. No correlation was, however, observed between tumour bulk which was also estimated histologically and 5α‐reductase, indicating that the activity of this enzyme is purely a function of the histological grade of the cancer and as such 5α‐reductase could be used as a biochemical marker for tumour differentiation.