Prostate Development
Section: Section of Gene Function and Regulation
A Swain, M Thomsen
The prevalence of prostate cancer has highlighted the importance of understanding how the mammalian prostate develops and functions. It is increasingly clear that carcinogenesis often involves deregulation of pathways that are important in development. Relatively little is known about the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in prostate development and very few genes important in this process have been identified. We have established screens to identify genes that are expressed in a tissue specific manner during prostate development. Using high-throughput whole mount in situ hybridization, we are analysing the expression of genes derived from a normalised neonatal prostate library in the urogenital sinus derived from males and female embryos at different stages. Genes that are expressed specifically in the developing prostate in an androgen-dependent manner are selected for functional analysis using transgenic and/or targeted mutagenesis.
To investigate whether changes in expression of candidate genes in the prostate are associated with neoplasia in humans, we are performing immunohistochemical analysis on tissue arrays, provided by Professor Colin Cooper, containing prostate samples from patients with prostatic disease such as benign prostatic hyperplasia and different stages of prostate cancer. The aim of these studies is to provide insight into the development of human prostate malignancies and to provide useful prognostic markers for early prostate cancer.
External Funding: NCRI
In the Section of Gene Function and Regulation
