Beta-glucuronidase activity in prostatic carcinoma and benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Beta-glucuronidase activity was extracted from prostatic carcinomas and hyperplastic prostates. It was 3.6-fold higher (P less than 0.0001) in prostatic carcinoma than in prostatic hyperplasia. Analysis for isoenzymes of prostatic beta-glucuronidase by disc-gel electrophoresis in nondenaturing polyacrylamide gels demonstrated only one form of the enzyme. Histochemically, enzymatic activity was observed almost entirely in epithelial cells in both prostatic carcinoma and benign prostatic hyperplasia.