The Measurement of Androgen Receptors in Human Prostatic Tissue Utilizing Sucrose Density Centrifugation and a Protamine Precipitation Assay

Methods have been established for the measurement of androgen receptors in the cytosol and crude nuclear extract of human prostatic tissue using sucrose density gradient centrifugation and a protamine precipitation assay. These studies have demonstrated the presence of a high affinity, heat labile protein that binds preferentially to dihydrotestosterone and that is present only in androgen target tissues. In studies of prostatic tissue from 15 patients sucrose density gradient centrifugation appeared more sensitive than the protamine precipitation assay in the identification of androgen receptors. These findings appear promising and suggest that in the near future a reliable assay may be available for the measurement of androgen receptors in prostatic carcinoma.