title: Expression and localization of inhibin/activin subunits and activin receptors in the normal rat prostate.
abstract: Activin, a member of transforming growth factor beta (TGF beta), plays an important role during embryonic development, and defects of this growth factor results in degenerative disorders as demonstrated by gene knock out studies. TGF beta has been shown to have dual effects on the regulation of growth of prostate cancer cells. Recently, we have reported that activin was localized and messenger RNAs encoding activin and its receptors were expressed in human prostate cancer cells. To determine whether normal prostate cells produce inhibin and/or activin, immunohistochemistry was conducted on rat prostate glands using specific antibodies for inhibin and activin. The inhibin and activin were present in the cytoplasm and nuclei of epithelial cells whereas stromal cells were not stained. The expression of mRNA for the inhibin/activin subunits was determined using both in situ hybridization and the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique. In addition, the identity of the cDNA product of RT-PCR was verified with DNA sequencing. These findings suggest that inhibin is only produced and mRNA encoding the alpha-subunit for inhibin is only expressed in the normal rat prostate but activin and its receptors are produced and expressed in both normal rat prostate as well as human prostate cancer cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Neurobiology, University of Southern California School of Medicine, Los Angeles 90033, USA.
authors.forename: S Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Ying
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D029404:Activin Receptors; D028341:Activins; D000818:Animals; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000737:chemistry; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000737:chemistry; D004847:Epithelial Cells; D004848:Epithelium / Q000737:chemistry; D015870:Gene Expression; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D007265:Inhibins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011467:Prostate / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D017978:Receptors, Growth Factor / Q000032:analysis*; D017154:Stromal Cells / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D017978:Receptors, Growth Factor; D028341:Activins; D007265:Inhibins; D029404:Activin Receptors