Mouse Estrogen Treatment Study Analysis of Peri-prostatic Fat

Obesity is associated with an increased incidence of high grade prostate cancer (PC) and worse prognosis for PC patients. Recently, we showed in men that obesity-related periprostatic white adipose tissue (WAT) inflammation, characterized by macrophages surrounding dead or dying adipocytes forming crown-like structures, was associated with high grade PC. Possibly, interventions that suppress periprostatic WAT inflammation will improve outcomes for men with PC. Here, we tested the hypothesis that supplemental 17β-estradiol (E2) could decrease periprostatic WAT inflammation in obese male mice. Male C57BL/6J mice were obtained from The Jackson Laboratory and fed low fat diet (LFD, 10 kcal% fat, 12450Bi; Research Diets) or high fat diet (HFD, 60 kcal% fat, D12492i) beginning at 6 weeks of age. The mice were continued on these diets for a total of 12 weeks. After 12 weeks of feeding, the HFD fed mice were divided into two groups. One group of HFD-fed mice received a 0.25mg E2 pellet (60-day continuous release). A second group of HFD-fed mice received a placebo pellet. Pellets were subcutaneously implanted using a 10 gauge trocar. The LFD mice did not receive any implantation and is a control group in this study. All mice continued on their respective diets for an additional 8 weeks until sacrifice at 26 weeks of age. At sacrifice, periprostatic fat was harvested from each mouse and snap frozen. n=5/group from each of 3 groups (total of 15 samples). Total RNA was extracted and quality and concentration were measured. RNA integrity values were >7 in all 15 samples.