Tbx18 Regulates the Differentiation of Periductal Smooth Muscle Stroma and the Maintenance of Epithelial Integrity in the Prostate.

ABSTRACT: The T-box transcription factor TBX18 is essential to mesenchymal cell differentiation in several tissues and Tbx18 loss-of-function results in dramatic organ malformations and perinatal lethality. Here we demonstrate for the first time that Tbx18 is required for the normal development of periductal smooth muscle stromal cells in prostate, particularly in the anterior lobe, with a clear impact on prostate health in adult mice. Prostate abnormalities are only subtly apparent in Tbx18 mutants at birth; to examine postnatal prostate development we utilized a relatively long-lived hypomorphic mutant and a novel conditional Tbx18 allele. Similar to the ureter, cells that fail to express Tbx18 do not condense normally into smooth muscle cells of the periductal prostatic stroma. However, in contra

SUBMITTER: Bolt CC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4847854 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature