Objective: To evaluate the effect of hypertension on cell proliferation and apoptosis in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).
Methods: The techniques of immunohistochemistry and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP biotin nick end labeling(TUNEL) were used to detect the proliferative index (PI) and apoptotic index (AI) in both epithelium and stroma of simple BPH (40 cases) and BPH with hypertension (40 cases), respectively.
Results: In both the groups of simple BPH and BPH with hypertension, the value of PI was significantly higher than that of AI in epithelium and stroma (P < 0.05), and PI was closely related to the prostate volume (P < 0.05). As compared with the simple BPH group, PI was significantly increased in epithelium and stroma in the group of BPH with hypertension( P < 0.05), in which the disease history of hypertension was positively associated with PI in epithelium and stroma (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: Hypertension, particularly persistent hypertension state, may enhance cell proliferation in both epithelium and stroma of BPH, and consequently lead to the enlargement of the prostate.