Ghrelin Aggravates Prostate Enlargement in Rats with Testosterone-Induced Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, Stromal Cell Proliferation, and Smooth Muscle Contraction in Human Prostate Tissues

Table 1

Ghrelin-upregulated genes in hyperplastic rat prostates, selected from microarray for further analysis in human prostate tissues and in WPMY-1 cells, grouped to functional categories. Rats with testosterone-induced BPH were treated with ghrelin (20 nmol/kg, daily) or vehicle. Prostates were harvested four weeks after initiation of ghrelin treatment and subjected to microarray analysis (prostates from animals per group). The selection represents genes, which were upregulated 1-fold or more by ghrelin treatment (fold change) and for which a function for growth, smooth muscle contraction, or metabolism appears likely.

Gene	Fold change	Simplified description
Growth
BMP6	8.764	TGF-beta receptor agonist
TTK	4.258	Proliferation-promoting kinase
CCNE1	4.187	Cyclin E1
FOXM1	2.649	Transcriptional activator involved in proliferation
Contraction
GAL	10.13	Regulation of neurotransmission
SPON1	3.111	ECM, adhesion, vascular smooth muscle
LIMK2	2.432	Smooth muscle contraction in hyperplastic human prostate
RTKN2	2.418	Rhotekin 2, effector of contraction-mediating Rho kinase
ARHGEF4	2.267	Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor
ABRA	2.049	Actin-binding Rho activating protein
Metabolism
SLC10A6	5.006	Metabolism, sugar import into cell
THEM5	4.300	Metabolism, lipid regulation