Changes of an androgen-dependent nuclear protein during functional differentiation and by dedifferentiation of the dorsolateral prostate of rats

Nuclei of the dorsolateral prostate of rats contain a large amount of androgen-dependent non-histone protein (20K-NHP) (mol. wt. ≒ 20,000; pI ≒ 11.5) (Matuo et al. (1)). Its content in the nuclei increased most markedly during 4-8 weeks of age, when functional differentiation of the prostate was most active on the basis of the changes of major cytosol proteins and zinc. Nuclei of the Dunning tumors originating in the dorsolateral prostate were found to lack 20K-NHP regardless of androgen dependency, indicating the disappearance of the 20K-NHP from the nuclei by defifferentiation. These suggest that the 20K-NHP is an important nuclear protein for differentiation of the dorsolateral prostate cells.