Androgen receptor (AR) signaling plays a key role in prostate development, adult prostate function, and prostate cancer. Thus, androgen deprivation therapy remains the mainstay of treatment for prostate cancer, reducing the binding of androgens such as dihydrotestosterone (DHT) to AR to prevent nuclear translocation and subsequent transcriptional activity of AR. However, many prostate cancers that initially respond to androgen deprivation therapies ultimately become castration-resistant, leading to recurrence. The goal of our lab is to study the functions of androgens in progenitor cells, and investigate mechanisms for intrinsic castration resistance from the perspective of developmental and stem cell biology.
Research Videos
Macrophages of multiple hematopoietic origins reside in the developing prostate
Sally W. Feng, Tanya M. North, Peri Wivell, Andrew Pletcher, Anastas Popratiloff, and Maho Shibata
Development 2024. 151(16):dev203070. doi: 10.1242/dev.203070
Cx3cr1-YFP macrophages associate with nerve fibers at the surface of the prostate duct.