Association between polymorphisms of estrogen receptor 2 and benign prostatic hyperplasia

Benign prostatic hyperplasia genetic variants in Asians

The global prevalence of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is increasing annually, with a notably higher incidence in Asian populations. This condition can increase the risk of developing prostate cancer 2- to 12-fold, underscoring the critical need for comprehensive clinical guidelines and appropriate risk stratification testing. This review is the first to address the gap by focusing on genetic screening for risk stratification in Asians, followed by the development of pathophysiology based on the genetic variants identified. For example, the CYP17 gene, which plays a crucial role in testosterone synthesis and BPH progression, includes the CYP17 rs743572 C allele, a genetic variant that increases the risk of BPH by 1.58 times in Asians. Identifying such genetic variants can enable the tailoring of therapies to individual genetic profiles. Furthermore, this review provides new insights into the pathophysiology of BPH, suggesting that ethnicity may play a role in its progression, and explores genetic links between BPH and other diseases traditionally considered risk factors for BPH.

17β-Estradiol, through activating the G protein-coupled estrogen receptor, exacerbates the complication of benign prostatic hyperplasia in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients by inducing prostate proliferation

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is one of the major chronic complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and sex steroid hormones are common risk factors for the occurrence of T2DM and BPH. The profiles of sex steroid hormones are simultaneously quantified by LC-MS/MS in the clinical serum of patients, including simple BPH patients, newly diagnosed T2DM patients, T2DM complicated with BPH patients and matched healthy individuals. The G protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) inhibitor G15, GPER knockdown lentivirus, the YAP1 inhibitor verteporfin, YAP1 knockdown/overexpression lentivirus, targeted metabolomics analysis, and Co-IP assays are used to investigate the molecular mechanisms of the disrupted sex steroid hormones homeostasis in the pathological process of T2DM complicated with BPH. The homeostasis of sex steroid hormone is disrupted in the serum of patients, accompanying with the proliferated prostatic epithelial cells (PECs). The sex steroid hormone metabolic profiles of T2DM patients complicated with BPH have the greatest degrees of separation from those of healthy individuals. Elevated 17β-estradiol (E2) is the key contributor to the disrupted sex steroid hormone homeostasis, and is significantly positively related to the clinical characteristics of T2DM patients complicated with BPH. Activating GPER by E2 via Hippo-YAP1 signaling exacerbates high glucose (HG)-induced PECs proliferation through the formation of the YAP1-TEAD4 heterodimer. Knockdown or inhibition of GPER-mediated Hippo-YAP1 signaling suppresses PECs proliferation in HG and E2 co-treated BPH-1 cells. The anti-proliferative effects of verteporfin, an inhibitor of YAP1, are blocked by YAP1 overexpression in HG and E2 co-treated BPH-1 cells. Inactivating E2/GPER/Hippo/YAP1 signaling may be effective at delaying the progression of T2DM complicated with BPH by inhibiting PECs proliferation.

Association between vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms and genetic susceptibility to benign prostatic hyperplasia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is one of the global public health challenges due to the complexity of its mechanisms of occurrence. Many studies have suggested that vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms are associated with BPH susceptibility. Still, their conflicting findings need to be analyzed in aggregate to gain a better understanding.

METHODS

We identified 10 trials involving 1539 BPH cases and 1915 controls through a systematic search of Embase using, data obtained from the Web of Science, PubMed, and China Knowledge Network databases as of December 31, 2021. A meta-analysis was performed to investigate the association between 4 constant polymorphisms of this associated vitamin D receptor gene (Fok-1, Bsm-1, Taq-1, and Apa-1) and BPH risk.

RESULTS

In the overall population analysis, a significant positive association with BPH risk was found only in the Taq-1 variant (P < .001). Of these, the pure-hybrid model (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.384-3.196), the heterozygous model (95% CI = 1.207-2.021), the dominant model (95% CI = 1.312-2.133) and the allelic inheritance model (95% CI = 1.205-1.730) showed low heterogeneity. In subtype analyses, Bsm-1 variants showed a significant association with BPH risk for both the recessive (95% CI = 0.100-0.943, P = .039) and over-dominant (95% CI = 1.553-3.100, P = 0) models in the Caucasian population, and for the recessive (95% CI = 1.242-3.283, P = .039) and over-dominant (95% CI = 0.281-0.680, P = 0) models in the Asian population. In addition, a high degree of heterogeneity was found in the subgroup analysis of the association between Fok-1 variants and BPH risk.

CONCLUSION

Overall, there is an association between vitamin D receptor polymorphisms and BPH risk. Identification of BPH susceptibility by vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms has potential.

Heritability and genome-wide association study of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in the eMERGE network

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) results in a significant public health burden due to the morbidity caused by the disease and many of the available remedies. As much as 70% of men over 70 will develop BPH. Few studies have been conducted to discover the genetic determinants of BPH risk. Understanding the biological basis for this condition may provide necessary insight for development of novel pharmaceutical therapies or risk prediction. We have evaluated SNP-based heritability of BPH in two cohorts and conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of BPH risk using 2,656 cases and 7,763 controls identified from the Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) network. SNP-based heritability estimates suggest that roughly 60% of the phenotypic variation in BPH is accounted for by genetic factors. We used logistic regression to model BPH risk as a function of principal components of ancestry, age, and imputed genotype data, with meta-analysis performed using METAL. The top result was on chromosome 22 in SYN3 at rs2710383 (p-value = 4.6 × 10-7; Odds Ratio = 0.69, 95% confidence interval = 0.55-0.83). Other suggestive signals were near genes GLGC, UNCA13, SORCS1 and between BTBD3 and SPTLC3. We also evaluated genetically-predicted gene expression in prostate tissue. The most significant result was with increasing predicted expression of ETV4 (chr17; p-value = 0.0015). Overexpression of this gene has been associated with poor prognosis in prostate cancer. In conclusion, although there were no genome-wide significant variants identified for BPH susceptibility, we present evidence supporting the heritability of this phenotype, have identified suggestive signals, and evaluated the association between BPH and genetically-predicted gene expression in prostate.

Expression of Long Non-Coding RNA (lncRNA) Small Nucleolar RNA Host Gene 1 (SNHG1) Exacerbates Hepatocellular Carcinoma Through Suppressing miR-195

Background

Aberrant expression of lncRNA has been suggested to have an association with tumorigenesis. Our study was designed to reveal the underlying connection between lncRNA SNHG1 and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) pathogenesis.

Material/Methods

A total of 122 pairs of HCC tissues (case group) and matched adjacent non-tumor liver tissues (control group) were collected for this study. RT-PCR and in situ hybridization were conducted to investigate differences in lncRNA SNHG1 expression between the case and control group. The expression levels of lncRNA SNHG1 and miR-195 in HepG2 cells transfected with SNHG1-mimic and SNHG1-inhibitor were measured by RT-PCR. The proliferation, invasion, and migration status of HepG2 cells after transfection were assessed through MTT assay, wound healing assay, and Transwell assay, respectively. Whether miR-195 is a direct downstream target of lncRNA SNHG1 was verified by both bioinformatics target gene prediction and dual-luciferase report assay.

Results

The expression level of lncRNA SNHG1 was remarkably upregulated in HCC tissues and cell lines compared with normal tissues and cell lines. High expression of lncRNA SNHG1 contributed to the downregulation of miR-195 in HepG2 cells. Also, lncRNA SNHG1 exacerbated HCC cell proliferation, invasion, and migration in vitro through the inhibition of miR-195. This suggests that miR-195 is a direct downstream target of lncRNA SNHG1.

Conclusions

lncRNA SNHG1 may contribute to the aggravation of HCC through the inhibition of miR-195.

Correlation between prostate volume and single nucleotide polymorphisms implicated in the steroid pathway

OBJECTIVES

A few preliminary studies have suggested a link between some genetics variants and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Our goal was to study the link between a set of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) implicated in the steroid pathway and accurate measurement of prostate volume in a cohort of men who underwent radical prostatectomy.

METHODS

Clinical and pathological data including prostate weight were obtained from 611 Caucasian patients with small volume, localized prostate cancer treated by radical prostatectomy. Patients were genotyped for 90 SNPs located inside or nearby genes implicated in the steroid pathway (Sequenom iPLEX). Correlation between prostate weight and genotypes from each SNP was studied by analysis of covariance, adjusted on age and tumor stage. A Bonferroni correction was applied, and the SNPs implicated were then incorporated in a multivariable model.

RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS

Seven SNPs located in or nearby genes implicated in steroid hormone metabolism were significantly associated with prostate volume: HSD17B2 (rs1119933), ESR2 (rs8006145), SULT2B1 (rs279451), NQO1 (rs2917670), ESR1 (rs1569788), GSTP1 (rs1138272), and CYP19A1 (rs17523880). Significant association was maintained after multivariate analysis for four SNPs, indicating their independent association with prostate volume. The power of the association of each SNP with prostate volume was comparable to the effect of age. The strongest associations were found with variants in ESR1, ESR2, HSD17B2, and CYP19A1 genes, indicating a potential role of the estrogen signaling pathway in genesis of BPH.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results are in favor of an implication of estrogen biotransformation and signaling pathways in the pathophysiology of BPH.