Protein profiles of benign hypertrophic prostate: stroma-abundant distribution of BPH-associated nonhistone proteins.

Mechanically isolated epithelium and stroma from benign hypertrophic prostates were highly pure on the basis of histochemical and biochemical criteria. By electrophoretic analyses, whole cellular and nuclear proteins were compared among whole tissues, epithelium, and stroma. The characteristic protein profiles of benign hypertrophic prostates were reflected in the electrophoretic patterns of the stroma. Two-dimensional gel electrophoretic patterns of the epithelium were different from those of the stroma with exception of about 18 major spots that were common to both fractions. Of the protein species separated, 35K/6.7 (molecular weight/pI) and 36K, which was composed of two species with pI of 4.4 and 4.6, were abundant in the epithelium and stroma, respectively. Nuclei prepared from whole tissues of benign hypertrophic prostates contained three kinds of nonhistone proteins (NHP) closely associated with benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH); 42 K-NHP, 55 K-NHP and 190 K-NHP. Electrophoretic analysis of the nuclear proteins revealed that all the BPH-associated nonhistone proteins were abundantly distributed in the nuclei of the stroma.