Ageing and prostate: age-related changes in androgen receptors of epithelial cells from benign hypertrophic glands compared with cancer.

Total and nuclear androgen receptors (AR) were studied from epithelial cells in internal and external prostatic zones in 51- to 86-year-old individuals with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) (n = 68) and prostatic cancer (n = 9). We focussed on the role played by androgens on those processes, despite the fact that at these ages, its secretion has normally decreased. In BPH, the nuclear AR do not change, but total measured androgen receptors rise with age (r = 0.