Involvement of estrogen receptor β in androgen receptor-induced growth inhibition in prostate cancer PC-3 cells

Previous studies have suggested that changes in sex hormone receptor expression may be associated with the initiation and progression of prostate cancer (PCa). Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the association and possible pathways between two sex hormone receptors and PCa by measuring the expression levels of the androgen receptor (AR) and the estrogen receptor subtypes alpha (ER alpha) and beta (ER beta) in prostatic cancer PC-3 cell lines. The pcDNA3.1-hER beta plasmid was transfected into PC-3 cell lines. The expression levels of AR, ERa and ER beta were detected at the mRNA level by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and quantitative PCR (qPCR). The results demonstrated that the expression levels of AR, ER beta and ERa were downregulated to different degrees: ER beta test group vs. PC-3 cell group (P=0.000; 95% confidence interval: 0.9803-1.6331). ER beta and AR expression was detected continuously in the PC-3 cells, but the expression of ER alpha was not. AR expression levels exhibited an upward trend whilst the expression of ER beta demonstrated a marked downward trend. There is a correlation between the expression levels of ER beta and the incidence of PCa, and ER beta may inhibit the growth of PC-3 cell lines by regulating the expression levels of AR. ER beta may provide a novel target for PCa therapies.