Combined effect of polymorphisms in type III 5-α reductase and androgen receptor gene with the risk of benign prostatic hyperplasia in Korea

We evaluated whether type III 5-alpha reductase (SRD5A3; steroid reductase 5-alpha 3) polymorphism was associated with susceptibility of benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and the combined effects in BPH risk between the type of short tandem repeat (STR) in SRD5A3 and the length of trinucleotide (CAG) repeats in androgen receptor (AR) gene. We compared the length of AC repeats in STR region of SRD5A3 gene and a CAG repeat in AR in 188 BPH patients who underwent transurethral resection of prostate (TURP) and 98 controls by polymerase chain reaction-based methods. We defined short type was less than 21 copies of AC repeats. The odds ratio for BPH between the men with at least one of short type and with both large types of STR in SRD5A3 gene was 3.10 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.87–5.16; P=0.000). And BPH was 2.35 times more likely to occur in with less than 23 copies of CAG repeats than men equal or greater than 23 copies in AR gene (95% CI, 1.18–2.36; P=0.016). The men with the large type of STR and ≥23 copies of CAG repeats have 5.3 times BPH risk compared to the reference group with the at least one of the short type of STR and <23 copies (P<0.000). In conclusion, these results suggest that shorter AC repeats of SRD5A3 gene and shorter CAG repeats of AR gene were associated with an increased risk for BPH. However, the interaction between above two factors was not affected in risk of BPH.