Conclusions

Abstract

Despite the long duration of the latent period in the response of many enzymes implicated in DNA replication to androgens, these responses are set in motion by the androgen receptor system. This conclusion is substantiated by the extreme specificity of these responses and their negation by antiandrogens. To a very large extent, the slow inception of the processes associated with DNA replication and mitosis may be explained by synthesis of the proteins which mandatorily regulate the onset of cell division. This concept has been propounded in the past (Fox and Pardee, 1971; Salas and Green, 1971) and the new evidence in the rat prostate is consistent with this viewpoint. In particular, a protein capable of activating native DNA by intro ducing local regions of strand separation is a possible representative of such regulatory proteins. The correlation between DNA replication and the appearance of many enzymes associated with this process raises the interesting possibility that a contiguous group of genetic loci may regulate these important nuclear events, including the synthesis of histones. It may be envisaged that this cluster of structural or other classification of genes is not available for transcription until the nuclear apparatus is dispersed or opened up at the time approaching mitosis. This possibility is currently under investigation in this laboratory.