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Suppressive effects of antiandrogens, finasteride and flutamide on development of prostatic lesions in a transgenic rat model

Abstract

Transgenic (TG) rats bearing a probasin promoter/simian virus 40 T antigen (SV40 Tag) construct were treated with antiandrogens to examine their ability to suppress prostate carcinogenesis. Finasteride and flutamide were administered to 10-week-old TG rats five times a week for 2, 5 and 7 weeks. Antiandrogen-treated prostates exhibited atrophic glandular structures with almost no expression of SV40 Tag and only weak signals for androgen receptors. Furthermore, quantitative data for ventral prostate adenocarcinomas showed significant decrease with antiandrogen treatment. Both finasteride and flutamide had the ability to suppress SV40 Tag-driven carcinogenesis through their different antiandrogenic mechanisms, suggesting that this TG model is suitable for exploring the potential of agents to inhibit prostate cancer development.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by a Grant-in Aid for cancer research from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, and a grant from the Society for Promotion of Toxicological Pathology in Nagoya, Japan.

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Correspondence to S Takahashi.

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Cho, YM., Takahashi, S., Asamoto, M. et al. Suppressive effects of antiandrogens, finasteride and flutamide on development of prostatic lesions in a transgenic rat model. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis 10, 378–383 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.pcan.4500971

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