Induction of apoptosis in human prostate stromal cells by 4-hydroxytamoxifen:: an alternative therapy for benign prostate hyperplasia

Benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) is a disease of the aging male. In BPH, the imbalance of cell proliferation and programmed cell death ( apoptosis) leads to continuous stromal growth. Common medication interrupts stromal cell proliferation but has only little effect on inducing stromal cell apoptosis. In this study, we investigated tamoxifen (TAM) and 4-hydroxytamoxifen (OHT) for their ability to induce apoptosis in human prostate stromal cells (PrSC) in vitro. After the incubation of PrSC with different concentrations of TAM or OHT, the cytotoxic effect was measured using an MTT-assay. The induction of apoptosis after OHT treatment was investigated by FACS-analysis ( annexin V FITC staining) and Western blot ( PARP-1 cleavage, BCL-2 and BAX-alpha expression). The administration of TAM at concentrations of 0 - 20 muM had very little effect on cell viability as measured by MTT assay. In contrast, the use of 10 - 20 muM OHT led to a significant decrease in cell viability. The binding of annexin V FITC to apoptotic cells was demonstrated by FACS-analysis. The induction of apoptosis was further proven by Western blot of PARP-1 protein cleavage and the expression of the anti-apoptotic BCL-2 and the pro-apoptotic BAX-alpha proteins. In conclusion, our data clearly demonstrate, that the administration of OHT at concentrations from 10 - 20 muM induced apoptosis in human PrSC. The more effective induction of apoptosis with OHT compared with TAM could very well explain the results of clinical studies showing no clinical effect of TAM treatment on BPH. Furthermore, our results, if reproducible in vivo, could open new avenues for the treatment of BPH by local administration of OHT in apoptosis-inducing concentrations.