UCLA study links progenitor cells to age-related prostate growth

The prostates of older mice contain more luminal progenitor cells — cells capable of generating new prostate tissue — than the prostates of younger mice, UCLA researchers have discovered.The observation,published in  Cell Reports, helps explain why, as people age, the prostate tends to grow, leading to an increased risk for prostate cancer and other conditions.“Understanding what’s causing the prostate to grow with age helps us to consider strategies to prevent the expansion of these cells and possibly reduce a person’s risk for prostate growth or disease,” said Andrew Goldstein, member of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA and a UCLA assistant professor of urology and of molecular, cell, and developmental biology.Most organs in the body — including the kidneys, liver and spleen — lose mass as people age, and bone and muscle mass tend to decrease over time.The prostate, however, typically grows with age, which is why more than half of men over age 60 have benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH, in which the enlarged prostate impinges on the urethra, the organ that carries urine out of the bladder.Research had previously shown that the numbers of progenitor cells are also diminished in organs that shrink with age. Like stem cells, progenitor cells can differentiate into new cells, but they are more constrained in what type of cells they can become. For instance, prostate progenitor cells can only form prosta...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news