Preclinical therapy of benign prostatic hyperplasia with neuropeptide hormone antagonists

Figure 1 Local autoregulatory loop of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone and growth hormone-releasing hormone in prostate cells and their blockade with antagonistic analogs: A novel strategy for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia. A: Luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) secreted by pituitary somatotropes or by prostate cells activates local receptors (LHRHR). Similarly, pituitary-derived or paracrine/autocrine growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) binds to pituitary type receptor (GHRHR) or its splice variant (SV1). These events lead to the changes in cellular homeostasis implicated in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) pathophysiology; B: Disruption of the autoregulatory feedback loops by antagonists of LHRH and GHRH improves the condition of BPH by acting on these various cellular processes.