Journal
DIFFERENTIATION
Volume 76, Issue 6, Pages 578-586Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1111/j.1432-0436.2008.00290.x
Keywords
mesenchyme; epithelium; androgen receptors; cell-cell interactions; prostate development
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This review summarizes the history of research on mesenchymal-epithelial interactions in prostatic development from the first studies in 1970 to the present. From this study we have learned that prostatic development requires a reciprocal interaction between epithelium and mesenchyme in which urogenital sinus mesenchyme induces and patterns epithelial development and differentiation, while developing prostatic epithelium induces and patterns mesenchymal differentiation into smooth muscle and other resident cell types in the stroma. Prostatic development requires androgen action mediated by the androgen receptor (AR). Through analysis of tissue recombinants composed of wild-type and AR-null epithelium and mesenchyme, we have learned that many androgenic effects on prostatic epithelium do not require epithelial AR, but instead are elicited by the paracrine action of AR-positive mesenchyme. Present and future studies reviewed in this issue deal with the molecular mechanisms in this developmental communication between epithelium and mesenchyme.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available