Histochemistry of Prostatic Cancer and Stromal Invasion

Abstract

Histochemical techniques have the advantage of localizing enzymes and other important metabolic substances within the tissue and cells. Presently available histochemical methods have shown significant differences in the enzyme profile of the normal, hyperplastic and neoplastic human prostate. (Kirchheim et al. 1964, 1974, Brandes and Kirchheim 1977). Fundamental histochemical work had been done previously on animal prostates (Brandes and Bourne 1954, Brandes 1974). Electronmicroscopic studies have given us further insight into the fine structure of the cytoplasm of prostatic carcinoma in comparison to the normal prostate and benign nodular prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) (Brandes et al. 1964, Fisher and Jeffrey 1965, Mao et al. 1966, Tannenbaum et al. 1967, Kirchheim and Bacon 1969, Kastendieck and Altenahr 1976). Recently published histochemical studies on a rat adenocarcinoma with certain similarities to the human prostatic cancer appears to be a useful animal model for prostatic cancer (Muntzing et al. 1978).