Figure 2.

Effects of estradiol on LuCaP 35V. LuCaP 35V, an androgen-insensitive CaP xenograft, was grown in castrated male SCID mice. When tumors reached 200 to 400 mm³, animals were supplemented with 60-day-release E2 pellets, as described in Materials and Methods section. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. E2 inhibited the growth of androgen-independent LuCaP 35V in castrated male mice and caused significant increases in the survival of treated animals. PSA levels closely followed the tumor volume. (A) Tumor volume. (B) Serum PSA levels. (C) Survival. (D) Proliferation. E2 treatment decreased the proliferation of LuCaP 35V on days 3 and 7 of treatment. LuCaP 35V grown in castrated male mice was treated with E2 for 1, 3, or 7 days. BrdU staining was used to detect proliferating cells. The percentage of positive nuclei was calculated based on the counts of stained nuclei in five representative fields containing ∼ 1000 cells from three samples of treated and untreated tumors from each time point. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. Statistical analysis was performed using Student's t test.