TY - JOUR AB - BCL-2 is an integral protein of the external mitochondrial membrane that inhibits cell apoptotic death. We investigated the effect of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) on BCL-2 expression in prostate cancer tissues. We studied BCL-2 expression in vivo in prostate cancer tissues obtained from patients who underwent radical prostatectomy after neoadjuvant ADT, by Northern and Western blot analysis, and immunohistochemistry. Moreover, gene transcriptional activity was also measured by nuclear run-on experiments. We demonstrated an increase of BCL-2 mRNA expression in patients who underwent neoadjuvant ADT for 1 month in comparison to patients who had not received any therapy. Moreover, we demonstrated that there were no significant modifications of BCL-2 mRNA levels in patients who underwent neoadjuvant ADT for 3 and 6 months. Furthermore, BCL-2 protein levels in patients who underwent neoadjuvant ADT for 1 month were upregulated in comparison to patients who had not received any therapy. Immunohistochemical analysis showed a strong positivity of prostate cells depending on ADT administration for 1 month. Finally, transcriptional activity was not modified in patients who underwent neoadjuvant ADT, suggesting the absence of hormonal regulation on BCL-2 gene expression at the transcriptional level. Our data show that short-term administration of ADT interferes with BCL-2 expression, suggesting that androgen-mediated mechanisms may act through BCL-2-mediated apoptotic pathways. Moreover, since short-term ADT administration does not interfere with BCL-2 expression at the transcriptional level, the androgen-mediated mechanisms involving BCL-2 pathways, probably act at the post-transcriptional level. AD - Institute for Biomedical Technologies, ITB-CNR - Via G. Amendola, 122/D, 70126 Bari, Italy null AU - Fuzio,Paolo AU - Ditonno,Pasquale AU - Lucarelli,Giuseppe AU - Battaglia,Michele AU - Bettocchi,Carlo AU - Senia,Trabucco AU - Perlino,Elda DA - 2011/11/01 DO - 10.3892/ijo.2011.1140 EP - 1242 IS - 5 JO - Int J Oncol KW - androgen deprivation therapy BCL-2 expression reguĀ­lation prostate cancer PY - 2011 SN - 1019-6439 1791-2423 SP - 1233 ST - Androgen deprivation therapy affects BCL-2 expression in human prostate cancer T2 - International Journal of Oncology TI - Androgen deprivation therapy affects BCL-2 expression in human prostate cancer UR - https://doi.org/10.3892/ijo.2011.1140 VL - 39 ER -