Estrogen receptor expression is modulated in human and mouse prostate epithelial cells during cancer progression

•ESR1 expression in the epithelial cells of prostate tumors in humans and TRAMP mice revealed the same trend i.e. down-regulation with the progression of disease.•ESR1 and ESR2 transcript levels in the epithelial cells were found to be significantly higher during the initial stage i.e. high grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia and significantly reduced in well-differentiated carcinomas as compared to respective age matched non-cancerous prostates.•A decrease in the binding of estradiol to the plasma membrane of epithelial (EpCaM+) cells was observed as the disease progressed to well-differentiated carcinoma in TRAMP mice.