Dissecting cell-type-specific roles of androgen receptor in prostate homeostasis and regeneration through lineage tracing.

ABSTRACT: Androgen signals through androgen receptor (AR) to influence prostate development and cancer. How stromal and epithelial AR regulate prostate homeostasis remains unclear. Using genetic lineage tracing, we systematically investigated the role of cell-autonomous AR in different prostate epithelial cell types. Here we show that AR is dispensable for basal cell maintenance, but is cell-autonomously required for the luminal differentiation of rare basal stem cells. In contrast, AR deletion in luminal cells alters cell morphology and induces transient over-proliferation, without affecting androgen-mediated luminal cell survival or regeneration. However, AR is selectively required for the maintenance of daughter cells produced by castration-resistant Nkx3.1-expressing luminal stem cells (CARNs).

SUBMITTER: Xie Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5264212 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature