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Updated: May 22, 2026

Laser-capture Microdissection of Human Prostatic Epithelium for RNA Analysis
Published on: November 26, 2015
Lxrα regulates the androgen response in prostate epithelium
Emilie Viennois1, Teresa Esposito, Julie Dufour
1Department of Génétique Reproduction et Développement, Clermont Université, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France.
Abstract:
Benign prostatic hyperplasia is a nonmalignant enlargement of the prostate that commonly occurs in older men. We show that liver X receptor (Lxr)-α knockout mice (lxrα(-/-)) develop ventral prostate hypertrophy, correlating with an overaccumulation of secreted proteins in prostatic ducts and an alteration of vesicular trafficking in epithelial cells. In the fluid of the lxrα(-/-) prostates, spermine binding protein is highly accumulated and shows a 3000-fold increase of its mRNA. This overexpression is mediated by androgen hypersensitivity in lxrα(-/-) mice, restricted to the ventral prostate. Generation of chimeric recombinant prostates demonstrates that Lxrα is involved in the establishment of the epithelial-mesenchymal interactions in the mouse prostate. Altogether these results point out the crucial role of Lxrα in the homeostasis of the ventral prostate and suggest lxrα(-/-) mice may be a good model to investigate the molecular mechanisms of benign prostatic hyperplasia.
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