| Summary: | <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The exact relationship between hormonal activity and prostate cancer(PCa) has not yet been clearly defined. One of the key hormones associated with PCa is testosterone(T). However, both <it>in vitro </it>and <it>in vivo </it>studies have shown that under some conditions T is capable of either promoting PCa growth or death. This article proposes a theory which resolves this apparent paradox.</p> <p>Model</p> <p>The Estradiol-Dihydrotestosterone(E-D) model introduced in this paper proposes that 17β-estradiol(E2) is essential for initiating the growth of PCa cells through the formation of telomeres. It also proposes that T is responsible for increasing the expression of proteins which cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, and that 5α-dihydrotestosterone(DHT) is essential for preventing this. In addition, it is known that some T is converted to both E2 and DHT, which means that depending on the conditions, T is capable of either promoting the growth of or the killing of PCa.</p>
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