Benign prostate hyperplasia and stem cells: a new therapeutic opportunity.
Most men over 50 experience some lower urinary tract symptoms of nocturia, poor stream, urgency and frequency for urination, due to hyperplastic enlargement of the prostate (benign prostate hyperplasia, BPH). BPH is thought to be a disease with multiple aetiologies including hormone signalling, disruption of proliferation and apoptosis dynamics and chronic inflammation with changes in the morphology and phenotype of the prostate stroma. It has been proposed, recently, that stromal stem cells in prostate may be caused by the development of BPH. This review focuses on this putative role of stromal stem or stem-like cells in the development of BPH and assesses the potential of targeting the stem cells for the treatment of BPH.
Prostate Cancer Research Centre, Research Department of Urology, Charles Bell House, University College London, 67-73 Riding House Street, W1W 7EJ, London, UK, m.notara@ucl.ac.uk
Maria
M
Notara
Aamir
A
Ahmed
D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation; D059411:Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms; D008297:Male; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D011467:Prostate / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology*; D011470:Prostatic Hyperplasia / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D015398:Signal Transduction