This technology utilizes butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), a widely used food antioxidant, as an active ingredient in a pharmaceutical composition and a health functional food composition for the prevention and treatment of Leydig cell tumors, orchitis, epididymitis, testicular cancer, and hydrocele caused by the hyperplasia of testosterone-producing Leydig cells.
Leydig cells in the testicular interstitium are central to steroid hormone synthesis; while their abnormal proliferation can lead to tumors or inflammatory diseases, there has been no suitable substance to selectively inhibit them. Although BHT has been reported to exhibit anti-estrogenic and anti-androgenic activity in hormone-sensitive organs, its therapeutic effect on testicular diseases had not previously been identified.
This technology leverages the mechanism by which BHT activates the MAPK signaling pathway and induces endoplasmic reticulum stress in Leydig cells, thereby halting proliferation and increasing apoptosis. It is distinguished by its focus on diseases derived from Leydig cells rather than Sertoli cells. The technology also claims a method for inhibiting the proliferation and enhancing the apoptosis of Leydig cells in non-human mammals. It can be applied to targeted therapies for Leydig cell tumors, as an adjunct for testicular diseases related to androgen excess, and in research on testicular tumors in pets and livestock, providing a therapeutic material that selectively controls the abnormal proliferation of hormone-producing cells using BHT, which is inexpensive and available in large quantities.
This invention was developed with support from the Ministry of Science and ICT for research into the role of sideroxylin extracted from Callistemon viminalis in the prevention and treatment of gynecological cancers.
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